CommonSpacehttps://www.commonspace.scot
The CommonSpace: Scotland's independent news and media publishing platform.enThink-tank argues housing ‘numbers game’ has to be replaced by demand-led model, as Scottish Labour announces new housebuilding policyhttps://www.commonspace.scot/articles/13146/think-tank-argues-housing-numbers-game-has-be-replaced-demand-led-model-scottish
<div class="field field-name-field-image field-type-image field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" rel="og:image rdfs:seeAlso" resource="https://www.commonspace.scot/sites/default/files/styles/large/public/field/image/7230229876_34727900b6_z.jpg?itok=BgASapKB"><img typeof="foaf:Image" class="img-responsive" src="https://www.commonspace.scot/sites/default/files/styles/large/public/field/image/7230229876_34727900b6_z.jpg?itok=BgASapKB" width="612" height="459" alt="" /></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" property="content:encoded"><p>CommonSpace analysis shows both SNP and Scottish Labour housebuilding targets are behind what Audit Scotland believes is needed just to keep up with present supply</p>
<p><strong>THE COMMON WEAL</strong> <strong>head of policy and research has responded to Scottish Labour’s proposal to build 12,000 social houses per year by pleading for parties to stop “trading numbers at each other”, and instead embraced a housebuilding policy which is “demand-led”.</strong></p>
<p>Scottish Labour leader Richard Leonard today [14 August] launched a new policy of social house building. Speaking on a construction site at Parkhead Housing Association, Leonard pledged that his party would aim to build 12,000 homes for social rent per year.</p>
<p>He said: "Our society is deeply divided, with the richest one per cent in Scotland owning more personal wealth than the whole of the poorest fifty per cent. This is no time to tinker around the edges, not when so many people in Scotland are currently waiting for public housing.</p>
<blockquote><p>READ MORE: <a href="https://www.commonspace.scot/articles/13144/new-research-reveals-1-3-scots-believe-their-homes-are-not-standard">New research reveals 1 in 3 Scots' believe their homes are not up to standard</a></p>
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<p>"Scotland’s housing crisis is a key reason for deepening poverty in Scotland. People can’t access social homes so find themselves in the under regulated private rented sector. We have to address it urgently."</p>
<p>The Scottish Government has established a target of building 50,000 ‘affordable homes’, 35,000 of which are intended to be social housing, from 2016-2021.</p>
<p>However neither of these figures address Scotland's deficit in housing supply.</p>
<p>According to a 2013 Audit Scotland report, Scotland would need to have constructed over 21,000 houses per year between 2011 and 2035 - over 500,000 homes across 25 years - just for Scotland to maintain its current level of housing supply due to demographic changes, including the increasing trend towards people living on their own.</p>
<blockquote><p>READ MORE – <a href="https://www.commonspace.scot/articles/12853/exclusive-underspent-taxpayer-money-transferred-private-housing-developers-scottish">Exclusive: Underspent taxpayer money transferred to private housing developers by Scottish Government</a></p>
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<p>CommonSpace analysis of the build and demolition rate between 2011-2016 suggests Scotland was already 51,000 behind the Audit Scotland target figure just to keep up with present trends by the start of this parliamentary term.</p>
<p>A report by Shelter Scotland the Scottish Federation of Housing Associations analysing the delivery of the social housebuilding target found that the Scottish Government was set to meet its target, but that the net rise in social housing from 2016-21 after demolitions will be 25,000 – just 5,000 per year.</p>
<p>With a private sector build rate of 12,576 per year – many of which are at the top end of the housing market – current housebuilding remains well behind demand, with a Scotland-wide council house waiting list estimated to be at 188,000, equivalent to about 5 per cent of the population.</p>
<p>Dr Craig Dalzell of the Common Weal think tank warned that the policy debate in Scotland, focused as it is on arbitrary target numbers, does not comprehend the scale of the challenge.</p>
<blockquote><p>READ MORE: <a href="https://www.commonspace.scot/articles/12540/housebuilder-ceo-receives-2100-pay-rise-time-scottish-government-end-subsidy">Housebuilder CEO receives 2,100% pay rise – time for the Scottish Government to end subsidy</a></p>
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<p>Speaking to CommonSpace, he said: "Scotland clearly has a long way to go towards its goal of ensuring adequate housing for everyone. We also have a long way to go on the policies of how we get there. Too often, political parties will trade numbers at each other - each claiming to promise a few more houses built per year than the other. </p>
<p>"Common Weal takes a more productive approach. We wish to ensure that the upcoming Scottish National Investment Bank will set as one of its missions the goal of a demand-led approach to housing. We shall soon be publishing work which shall show how SNIB-backed loans can finance social housing that far exceeds anything that can be offered by the private sector in terms of quality at a price significantly below that which is currently offered even by so-called "affordable" housing.</p>
<p>"Of course, this debate cannot simply be about housing alone but must remember the infrastructure which goes into making a house into a home and a housing estate into a community. Forgetting this risks stressing existing services like schools and healthcare by imposing additional demand on them without providing additional capacity. We have to drop arbitrary house building target numbers and start addressing the actual, real needs of those who suffer from inadequate housing in Scotland."</p>
<p><a href="https://www.commonspace.scot/articles/13144/new-research-reveals-1-3-scots-believe-their-homes-are-not-standard">CommonSpace reported earlier today</a> on new research by Shelter Scotland which showed one in three Scots believe their housing is inadequate.</p>
<p>Picture courtesy of <a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/laurie424/7230229876/in/photolist-c1UPrN-c1UPfY-c1U7Hm-mv2BJH-DyUkv-c1U83q-7cLbTk-c1UBN3-c1Z6TC-c1Z7fu-jTYLb-h5tao-c1UCgA-2yN96T-23aku5-53JkkT-4wmhK9-76uQv8-6zJhfB-4kUofT-DVGgM-5mLMVw-ayTeav-c2hwP9-2e59PT-ZnsB1-3nGAn3-c1Z6ff-5YcMJV-7cPZYs-6mzCk1-8e3TEf-DGpU8-c2h7GG-5YcMC2-c2h8d5-gan6j-6RJ2uG-h5sRh-6JnB5X-8Gmv3G-7bL2FG-78nsWY-4xhVz6-u2b9n-4y1jRr-76yLXU-5qCbrH-95bSEr-6MLwwJ">Laurie</a></p>
</div></div></div>Tue, 14 Aug 2018 16:54:51 +0000Ben Wray13146 at https://www.commonspace.scothttps://www.commonspace.scot/articles/13146/think-tank-argues-housing-numbers-game-has-be-replaced-demand-led-model-scottish#commentsAnalysis: Disastrous hare-culling shows big landowners are irresponsible custodians of Scotlandhttps://www.commonspace.scot/articles/13145/analysis-disastrous-hare-culling-shows-big-landowners-are-irresponsible-custodians
<div class="field field-name-field-image field-type-image field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" rel="og:image rdfs:seeAlso" resource="https://www.commonspace.scot/sites/default/files/styles/large/public/field/image/429331783_1187e4577c_z_0.jpg?itok=ILIVeP9w"><img typeof="foaf:Image" class="img-responsive" src="https://www.commonspace.scot/sites/default/files/styles/large/public/field/image/429331783_1187e4577c_z_0.jpg?itok=ILIVeP9w" width="612" height="459" alt="" /></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" property="content:encoded"><p>With hares on eastern Scottish moorlands at less than 1 per cent of what they were in 1954, questions about the ownership and stewardship of Scottish land are more pressing than ever</p>
<p><strong>THAT Scotland’s mountain hare population is under threat is not, strictly speaking, news.</strong></p>
<p>Compelling and often gruesome evidence of widespread culls has mounted in recent years, providing credence to the concerns of animal welfare groups and ammunition for the arguments of anti-hunting advocates. Yet the media attention brought to the issue by <strong><a href="https://theferret.scot/mountain-hares-north-east-scotland/">new research</a></strong> from the UK Government’s Centre for Ecology and Hydrology and the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds in Scotland (RSPB) is arguably unprecedented.</p>
<p>The research reveals that mountain hare populations on north eastern Scottish moorlands now stand at less than one per cent of what they were in 1954, having decreased by nearly five per cent per year between 1954 and 1999, and then by a shocking 30 per cent per year between 1999 and 2017. The dramatic decline has been largely blamed on the practice of hare culling by grouse moor managers.</p>
<p>Dr Adam Watson, a 75-year veteran of research into mountain hares and the lead author of the study, <strong><a href="https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2018/aug/14/scotlands-mountain-hare-population-severe-decline">commented upon the release of the new research: </a></strong>“Having counted mountain hares across the moors and high tops of the eastern Highlands since 1943, I find the decline in numbers of these beautiful animals both compelling and of great concern.</p>
<p>“We need the Scottish Government and<strong> <a href="https://www.nature.scot/" target="_blank">Scottish Natural Heritage (SNH)</a></strong> to take action to help these iconic mammals of the hill. I hope they will listen to the voice of scientific research.”</p>
<blockquote><p>READ MORE:<strong><a href="https://www.commonspace.scot/articles/12601/not-acceptable-nicola-sturgeon-joins-greens-condemning-mountain-hare-culling"> ‘Not acceptable’: Nicola Sturgeon joins Greens in condemning mountain hare culling</a></strong></p>
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<p>Dr Watson’s call for the relevant authorities to heed the lessons of science is pertinent, since past experience has shown that the landowners and managers who operate Scotland’s grouse moors are disinclined to do so themselves.</p>
<p>The current favourite excuse for the mass-killing of hares is the attempted prevention of the louping ill virus, which has afflicted the red grouse population in recent decades, and has led to the intensification of hare culling from the 1990s onwards. The virus is spread by sheep ticks, and while there is some evidence to suggest mountain hares have also played a part in the transmission of the disease, scientific studies have found no compelling evidence that culls help prevent its spread.</p>
<p>Yet the preservation of animal populations from disease – saving them, so they can be killed in the preferred fashion – is not the only reason why mountain hares are under threat. Hunters hunt, and when it comes to Scottish mountain hares, there is little at present to stand in their way. Under current law, Scottish landowners can shoot mountain hares without a licence between August and February, with no restrictions imposed by the Scottish Government on how many hares can be killed in the open season. As a result, an estimated 26,000 hares are killed each year in Scotland, though in 2014 the number rose to over 37,000.</p>
<p>Yet despite the fresh attention being brought to the issue, this is not the first time hare culling has been the subject of controversy. In March of this year, the release of footage passed to BBC Scotland’s investigation unit by animal rights charities OneKind and the League Against Cruel Sports revealed gamekeepers on Scottish grouse moors in the Cairngorms using all-terrain vehicles to hunt and kill mountain hares. Despite being raised by the Scottish Greens at First Minister’s Questions and a declaration from First Minister Nicola Sturgeon that all options would be considered to prevent future culls, little action has been taken.</p>
<blockquote><p>“This research is the final nail in the coffin for the Scottish Government’s policy of inaction in the face of relentless persecution of mountain hares on grouse moors.” OneKind director Harry Huyton</p>
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<p>In October of 2017, a coalition of 10 environmental and wildlife groups – including RSPB Scotland, the Scottish Wildlife Trust, the Scottish Raptor Study Group, the Badenoch and Strathspey Conservation Group, the Cairngorms Campaign, the National Trust for Scotland, the Royal Zoological Society of Scotland, the Mammal Society and the John Muir Trust and Mountaineering Scotland – called for a temporary ban on all mountain hare culling on grouse moors, arguing that such culls threatened the species with local extinction. Again, no such temporary ban was instituted.</p>
<p>Green MSP Alison Johnstone, deputy convener of Holyrood's cross-party group on Animal Welfare as well as Species Champion for the Mountain Hare and Brown Hare,<strong><a href="https://www.holyrood.com/articles/news/failure-stop-mountain-hare-cull-shows-%E2%80%9Ccommercial-interests-are-driving-government"> commented at the beginning of this month:</a></strong> “Today marks the start of a season of shame across Scotland's hills and moors, with a blind eye being turned to large-scale culling of mountain hares. Sporting estates' belief that it protects grouse against viruses has no basis in science, so the failure to ban this horrific practice shows commercial interests are driving government policy.</p>
<p>“When I raised this issue with First Minister Nicola Sturgeon in March, she said she shared my concerns,<strong><a href="https://www.commonspace.scot/articles/12601/not-acceptable-nicola-sturgeon-joins-greens-condemning-mountain-hare-culling"> would explore all options to prevent mass culling</a></strong>, and would hold urgent talks with gamekeepers. Did these talks happen? And what progress has been made on preventing culls?</p>
<p>“Scotland is a nation of animal lovers and outdoor enthusiasts and the public are fed up with the Scottish Government dragging its feet on animal cruelty and allowing our hillsides to be used for blood sports.”</p>
<blockquote><p>READ MORE:<strong><a href="https://www.commonspace.scot/articles/3666/row-erupts-over-evidence-mountain-hare-cull"> Row erupts over evidence of mountain hare cull</a></strong></p>
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<p>Speaking to CommonSpace following the release of the latest research, director of OneKInd Harry Huyton said: “This research is the final nail in the coffin for the Scottish Government’s policy of inaction in the face of relentless persecution of mountain hares on grouse moors.</p>
<p>“Earlier this year, OneKind and the League Against Cruel Sports released grim footage of large-scale hare killing taking place in the Highlands. The First Minister agreed that the killing was ‘unacceptable’ and promised that the Government would review all available options to prevent mass culls. This process must now be urgently concluded so that Scotland’s iconic mountain hares are given the protection they need before the killing season peaks in the Winter. This is an urgent imperative if we are to both save this species and end the suffering that this brutal practice causes.”</p>
<p>The controversy echoed that of March 2016,<a href="https://www.commonspace.scot/articles/3666/row-erupts-over-evidence-mountain-hare-cull"> when photographs were published</a> by the Scottish investigative journalism platform the Ferret which appeared to show a mass-killing of mountain hares, again in the Cairngorms. At the time, conservationists argued that the relevant estates had breached an agreement reached in 2014 for a “voluntary restraint on large culls.” Again, no significant action was taken.</p>
<p>The practices surrounding grouse-shooting have also been implicated in threatening the Scottish populations of species far more endangered than mountain hares: in February, <strong><a href="https://www.commonspace.scot/articles/12359/rspb-calls-regulation-grouse-shooting-following-suspected-golden-eagle-killing">the RSPB Scotland reiterated its call</a></strong> for the driven grouse shooting industry to be licenced and for the right to shoot more closely regulated, following the suspected illegal killing of a golden eagle near Edinburgh.</p>
<blockquote><p>READ MORE: <strong><a href="https://www.commonspace.scot/articles/12359/rspb-calls-regulation-grouse-shooting-following-suspected-golden-eagle-killing">RSPB calls for regulation of grouse-shooting following suspected golden eagle killing</a></strong></p>
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<p>The wildlife broadcaster and environmentalist Chris Packham commented after the disappearance: “Once again, we have the suspicious disappearance of a satellite-tagged golden eagle in an area managed for driven grouse shooting.”</p>
<p>In response to the resultant bad press, the Scottish Gamekeepers’ Association <strong><a href="http://www.thenational.scot/news/16042285.Gamekeepers_complain_of__trial_by_media__over_golden_eagle_disappearance/">complained of “trial by media”, </a></strong>pleading innocence of the fact that a golden eagle had disappeared over an area reserved for the shooting of birds, and presumably allowing for the possibility that the eagle in question had disabled its own satellite tag, flown several miles out into the North Sea, and then committed suicide.</p>
<p>Mass-killings of animals are often an emotive issue, but despite the attention garnered by each of these controversies, it is difficult to avoid the impression that both the Scottish and UK Governments have tip-toed around dealing with the matter at hand, as well as the vested interests which allowed such practices to occur in the first place.</p>
<p>The Scottish Greens favour a complete ban on the killing of mountain hares, but as Green MSP Andy Wightman noted in the 2015 report <strong><a href="http://www.andywightman.com/docs/LACS_Grouse_Report_2015.pdf">‘The Intensification of Grouse Moor Management’, </a></strong>there are other connected issues at play: While grouse shooting has been carried out in Scotland for over 150 years and historically linked to high levels of wildlife persecution, Wightman wrote, “a wider range of environmental impacts has emerged.</p>
<p>“These include carbon emissions, erosion, road building, lead accumulation, fencing, impacts on other wildlife populations and on the landscape. This has led to growing concern about the negative impacts of a land use that is subject to minimal oversight and regulation.”</p>
<p>When the journalist and campaigner Lesley Riddoch responded to the Ferret’s 2016 revelations by commenting that the hare culls summed up “quasi-feudal Scotland”, in which landowners are “untouchable”, Scottish Land &amp; Estates chief executive Doug McAdam accused her of spreading “land reform propaganda.”</p>
<blockquote><p>“The managers of these vast estates are merely stripping the land of everything that does not serve themselves. They would create a wasteland, and call it profit.” Common Weal head of research Dr Craig Dalzell</p>
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<p>Scotland’s landowners have been notoriously touchy about the broad drive towards land reform since the advent of devolution; when the Labour-Liberal Democratic Scottish Executive put forward their own land reform bill in 2001, Robert Balfour, then convener of the Scottish Landowners' Federation, described the bill as “expropriation by any other name”, while conservative critics made <strong><a href="http://archive.spectator.co.uk/article/8th-december-2001/19/the-leninist-land-grab">ominous (and somewhat unhinged) comparisons to Mugabe and Lenin.</a></strong></p>
<p>Given that the Scottish landowning class has typically responded with hysteria to even the most timid suggestions of land reform, it might be worth asking what prevents the Scottish Government from taking more radical action – especially if the dangers and crimes of the present system remain the alternative.</p>
<p>Speaking to CommonSpace, Dr Craig Dalzell, head of research at the Common Weal think tank, comments: “Scotland needs to have a serious conversation about the ownership and stewardship of our countryside.</p>
<p>“This latest attempt to extirpate the moorlands of anything that does not directly aid the sport of grouse shooting shows that far from preserving Scotland for the benefit of all, the managers of these vast estates are merely stripping the land of everything that does not serve themselves. They would create a wasteland, and call it profit.”</p>
<p>One of the arguments made by big landowners like the Buccleuch Estates is that there should be less talk about who owns the land and more about whether the owners are responsible custodians of it. The evidence here is that they are not.</p>
<p>Picture courtesy of <a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/polandeze/429331783/in/photolist-243vCMS-YQe4JX-V7rhby-Gfsjnw-NYPjik-NC3Pwf-DWro8-DWtmQ-bv1GUw-DWrjW-5PzK3G-67GZa3-c3re6E-DWtfd-DWtdp-DWrmr-67CLQe-DWthZ-MNH5Yk-DWtk2-6eLpAt-bWCMej-DWq12-r6E8W-7GHHsD-67H1Rs-67H3ad-67CNVM-8PAUL8-8XFCgV-UVyiqq-r7sVCp-GfsR2N-67GYE3-hURSDS-6jzryD-iLRC9-99cXJk-7R3xdQ-6jDDjb-65cShq-9adA4T-4yx66F-6vJUtZ-9RyKW-ojcrPX">Andrew</a></p>
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</div></div></div>Tue, 14 Aug 2018 15:36:33 +0000SeanBell13145 at https://www.commonspace.scothttps://www.commonspace.scot/articles/13145/analysis-disastrous-hare-culling-shows-big-landowners-are-irresponsible-custodians#comments'Completely unacceptable': Historian Michael Fry slammed by fellow plaque panellist for slavery comments in Henry Dundas statue debatehttps://www.commonspace.scot/articles/13143/completely-unacceptable-historian-michael-fry-slammed-fellow-plaque-panellist-slavery
<div class="field field-name-field-image field-type-image field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" rel="og:image rdfs:seeAlso" resource="https://www.commonspace.scot/sites/default/files/styles/large/public/field/image/32577092645_046ef959a7_z.jpg?itok=1uBaeijK"><img typeof="foaf:Image" class="img-responsive" src="https://www.commonspace.scot/sites/default/files/styles/large/public/field/image/32577092645_046ef959a7_z.jpg?itok=1uBaeijK" width="643" height="362" alt="" /></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" property="content:encoded"><p>Sir Geoff Palmer brands Michael Fry’s mindset on slavery as “unacceptable” and “completely out of this time”</p>
<p><strong>HISTORIAN, AUTHOR and The National columnist Michael Fry has come under fire for defending controversial 18-19<sup>th</sup> century Scottish politician Henry Dundas’ role in securing a delay in the abolition of slavery in Britain as a “tiny, minor incident”.</strong></p>
<p>As home secretary, in 1792 Dundas secured an amendment to William Wilberforce’s bid for the abolition of slavery which ensured the process would be ‘gradual’ – a decision which saw slavery continue for another 15 years, resulting in an estimated 630,000 additional people being enslaved and imported by Britain. </p>
<p>As the current plaque in Edinburgh reads, Dundas, the first Viscount Melville, was the “dominant figure in politics for over four decades”, treasurer to the navy, lord advocate, and keeper of the Scottish signet. Dundas also served as minister for war during the French revolutionary wars.</p>
<p>Fry, who has written a book on Dundas entitled The Dundas Despotism, is sitting on a panel convened by Edinburgh City Council to consider proposals to revise the plaque on a statue of Dundas in Edinburgh’s St Andrews Square to reflect his role in the slave trade.</p>
<p>Speaking to Channel Four on the issue this week, Fry said: “[Dundas] judged that the right thing to do was just to damp down the whole business so that nobody got too excited about it. That was his purpose because there was no point in having an economy previously based on slavery collapse. That would have served nobody’s interests at all." </p>
<blockquote><p>READ MORE: <strong><a href="https://www.commonspace.scot/articles/3984/adam-ramsay-why-thanks-to-alex-salmond-i-m-honouring-our-tyrants-in-edinburgh">Adam Ramsay: Why, thanks to Alex Salmond, I'm honouring our tyrants in Edinburgh</a></strong></p>
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<p>Fry argued that amending the plaque to include these details would amount to “choosing a tiny, minor incident and saying this is what you need to know about Dundas”. “I don’t think that’s true,” he added.</p>
<p>However, emeritus professor in life sciences at Heriot-Watt University and author of a 2007 book on the history of slavery Sir Geoff Palmer, who is also on the panel regarding the plaque, said Fry’s assessment of the costs and benefits of Dundas’ decision on slavery was “completely unacceptable”</p>
<p>Noting that Fry’s book on Dundas allocated “only one page to the abolition of slavery”, Palmer said his position on the issue had remained “quite consistent”.</p>
<p>“Fry is caught in a mindset that is completely out of this time - it doesn’t belong to our society,” Palmer told CommonSpace. “I think where he’s coming from is that he regards the so-called French revolution as more important than putting 600,000 black people into slavery.”</p>
<p>This, he said, is precisely the reasoning which allowed the slave trade to continue for as long as it did, with disastrous impacts for those affected. “Fry’s view is that it was of great economic benefit and it didn’t really matter what you did to 800,000 slaves in the Caribbean – that’s how many slaves Britain owned at that time,” he said.</p>
<blockquote><p>READ MORE: <strong><a href="https://www.commonspace.scot/articles/11372/empire-pride-or-shame-5-things-you-need-know-about-british-empire">Empire of pride or shame? 5 things you need to know about the British Empire</a></strong></p>
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<p><figure class="image file-default media-element"><img alt="" data-delta="1" data-fid="12586" data-media-element="1" height="416" src="https://www.commonspace.scot/sites/default/files/08.14.18/5841821256_026644b0b1_z.jpg" typeof="foaf:Image" width="555" /><figcaption><strong><em>Picture: Current plaque at the Henry Dundas statue, Edinburgh</em></strong></figcaption></figure></p>
<p>Prime Minister William Pitt the Younger, under whom Dundas served, opposed the proposition to make the abolition a gradual process – but it passed in parliament nonetheless.</p>
<p>Reflecting on Dundas’ meaning of the term ‘gradual’ in this context, Pitt said its aim was “prescribing some condition, waiting for some contingency, or by refusing to proceed, till a thousand favourable circumstances unite together”. In effect, it was a delaying tactic and was always intended as such.</p>
<p>Palmer said he “completely reject[ed]” Fry’s view that the abolition of slavery would have served “nobody’s interests”, arguing instead that its maintenance served only the self-interests of the establishment and aristocracy.</p>
<p>“The people Henry Dundas was giving support to were slave owners. He’s making that statement and applying it to all British people at the time who had nothing to do with law-making, who didn’t even have the right to vote,” Palmer said. “It’s an affront to use that to talk about the population.”</p>
<p>In fact, Palmer said that the actions of Dundas and others who upheld the slave trade had consequences which reverberate today. “We’re living the future of the past,” he said.</p>
<blockquote><p>READ MORE: <strong><a href="https://www.commonspace.scot/articles/12652/empire-racism-children-caribbean-migrants-say-windrush-crisis-exposes-state-bigotry">Empire racism: Children of Caribbean migrants say Windrush crisis exposes state bigotry of past and present</a></strong></p>
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<p><figure class="image file-default media-element"><img alt="" data-delta="2" data-fid="12587" data-media-element="1" height="396" src="https://www.commonspace.scot/sites/default/files/08.14.18/henry_dundas.jpg" typeof="foaf:Image" width="555" /><figcaption><strong><em>Picture: Makeshift plaque which was briefly glued to the Henry Dundas statue, Edinburgh</em></strong></figcaption></figure></p>
<p>“What Dundas did, we are living today – that’s why I’m called ‘nigger’. What Dundas did, what Fry is saying today is okay, that’s why people think it’s okay to call black people niggers. Because they were transported, because they were slaves,” Palmer said.</p>
<p>“Today a significant percentage of black people are in prison, and black kids are killing each other – that’s not because the past was rosy.”</p>
<p>Ultimately, Palmer said, Fry’s analysis of history and its consequences is altogether too narrow. “Fry looks at a stone and says it’s a stone. He doesn’t see that it could be used as a weapon, or it could be used as a tool, or a work of art, or a paper weight,” he added.</p>
<p>The debate over Dundas’ historical significance and how best to commemorate it was brought to the fore in 2016 when activist and Open Democracy co-editor Adam Ramsay glued his own plaque to the bottom of the statue, stating that he “crushed rebellious demands for democracy”, was “impeached for the embezzlement of public funds”, and “succeeded in delaying the abolition of slavery”.</p>
<p>Now, Ramsay sits on the panel which is considering the updated wording, alongside Dundas’ descendant, Bobby Melville, the 10<sup>th</sup> Viscount Melville. A decision on the plaque is due to be reached in September.</p>
<p>Picture courtesy of <a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/woolamaloo_gazette/32577092645/">byronv</a>, <a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/brostad/5841821256/in/photolist-WSyk7h-VE2Qnb-ffFXna-6dZg6q-9UdRVY-D6aaUc-ffWM43-9UdRW3-21DTjKS-QmaJjb-9UdRW9-RCJ7F8">Bernt Rostad</a>, and <a href="https://www.commonspace.scot/articles/3984/adam-ramsay-why-thanks-to-alex-salmond-i-m-honouring-our-tyrants-in-edinburgh">Adam Ramsay</a></p>
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</div></div></div>Tue, 14 Aug 2018 15:15:32 +0000Caitlin Logan13143 at https://www.commonspace.scothttps://www.commonspace.scot/articles/13143/completely-unacceptable-historian-michael-fry-slammed-fellow-plaque-panellist-slavery#commentsBill Austin: The Brexit borders debate is a red herring – What matters is whether you control your tax system, or let corporations run wildhttps://www.commonspace.scot/articles/13142/bill-austin-brexit-borders-debate-red-herring-what-matters-whether-you-control-your
<div class="field field-name-field-image field-type-image field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" rel="og:image rdfs:seeAlso" resource="https://www.commonspace.scot/sites/default/files/styles/large/public/field/image/24801256028_0cb25f0e73_z.jpg?itok=enu1-BJ5"><img typeof="foaf:Image" class="img-responsive" src="https://www.commonspace.scot/sites/default/files/styles/large/public/field/image/24801256028_0cb25f0e73_z.jpg?itok=enu1-BJ5" width="643" height="428" alt="" /></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" property="content:encoded"><p>Customs expert with over 30 years experience in the UK and worldwide, Bill Austin argues that Brexit is an attempt to undermine revenue and customs collection to serve unbridled corporate power, but that there is a chance for an independent Scotland to have a tax system among the world’s best</p>
<p><strong>WE NEED to explain to Scotland’s electorate, but particularly No voters, the consequences to their day-to-day lives of the catastrophic Brexit fraud concurrent with demonstrable evidence of how to protect our society through Independence in the EU. No problem, right?</strong></p>
<p>This article humbly suggests our start point may be a Scottish shadow treasury team working closely with the people involved in establishing a National Investment Bank to organise, plan and publish a national tax strategy before and during transition to self-government and good governance. Currently, it’s not clear to me why Scotland does not have such an essential kit in our tool-box.</p>
<p>The Indyref 2014 White Paper suggested replication of the current broken and ineffective British tax system. We should be aiming for a revenues/borders system to be in the world’s top five.</p>
<blockquote><p>REPORT: <a href="https://www.commonspace.scot/articles/10115/new-report-independent-scotlands-customs-and-borders">An independent Scotland's Customs and Borders</a></p>
</blockquote>
<p>An efficient Revenue Scotland government department consisting of, at minimum, a professional, well trained and resourced Customs Division, Inland Revenue Division and a Procurator Fiscal Tax Office (PFTO) should be pencilled in to the structure of our Shadow Treasury team.</p>
<p>Why a strong PFTO? Because corporate lawyers and the global accountancy firms will fight tooth and nail to ensure an independent Scottish Government is obstructed in tax collection.</p>
<p>To that end, a Scottish constitution must enshrine the concept of “Right Tax at the Right Time” to ensure the tax compliance of every individual and trader within our jurisdiction. </p>
<p>Where does Customs/Revenues/Borders fit into this Brexit bourach, and our alternative of Independence in Europe? </p>
<blockquote><p>READ MORE: <a href="https://www.commonspace.scot/articles/11548/bill-austin-why-uks-brexit-customs-paper-fantastical-wish-list">Why the UK's Brexit customs paper is a fantastical wish-list</a></p>
</blockquote>
<p>Let’s start with the Brexit con and what it will mean. This article contends that the London corporate mafia have zero intention of having import freight control at Dover, the Irish border or anywhere else in the UK and have every intention of exploiting the UK’s offshore location with Europe as a low tax jurisdiction and haven with few labour laws. </p>
<p>What will the consequences be? Reducing import revenues for big business and corporation taxes, for example, must require increases elsewhere to make up attendant massive shortfall to government revenues.</p>
<p>That’ll be Scottish voters again who must cover this hole? Very likely. Personal income tax and VAT rises on every day essentials such as fuel, goods and services will be mandatory to fund the already under-resourced NHS, education, welfare etc.</p>
<p>Let’s nail corporation tax cuts by illustrating what’s going on currently in USA. 80 per cent of shares are owned by only 10 per cent of the population. Corporation tax cuts don’t mean this elite are going to invest more in their global empires or pay more wages to ordinary people. This money, deducted from the public treasury, will be paid to their own shareholdings as stock buybacks or as dividends to be hidden in tax havens. Is this the kind of example Edinburgh would want to follow? London certainly does through Brexit.</p>
<p>There are two common themes in HMG’s straw-man Brexit papers: “frictionless” and ”innovative facilitations”, translated as hee-haw. They are meant to imply positive activity but actually add nothing but confusion and uncertainty to an already chaotic situation, all to be implemented by 31 March 2019. Aye. Right.</p>
<p>The “customs” service consistently referred to in the Westminster documents no longer exists despite the fact that customs import revenues and inland taxes remain to be collected. To con the public this way is as reprehensible and misleading as keeping Customs signs up at airports and ports. There have been no Customs officers at Dover, Heathrow, Glasgow or Edinburgh since 2005 when HM Customs &amp; Excise ceased to be. UK Border Force are at these locations and whose priority is immigration. Not Customs.</p>
<blockquote><p>READ MORE – <a href="https://www.commonspace.scot/articles/13004/bill-austin-ive-been-customs-30-years-and-i-agree-boris-mays-chequers-plan-turd">Bill Austin: I've been in Customs for 30 years and I agree with Boris - May's Chequers plan is a turd</a></p>
</blockquote>
<p>Readers are invited to surf the web in order to identify resourced staffing plans to carry out this new “legislation” in order to satisfy yourselves that the Brexit borders plan is a scam. The media regularly produce Brexit propaganda such as: “An extra 5,000 customs staff will have to be hired to cope with Brexit, the Government has admitted”. But there is zero evidence of HM Treasury approving cash to pay for this. A cursory search of the civil service jobs website, this morning, revealed seven HMRC vacancies and no UKBF vacancies in Scotland. The reality is HMRC and UKBF have been shedding staff and closing offices for the last 10 years.</p>
<p>So, what have we established so far? Nebulous Borders/Customs plans with zero evidence of resources to cope with the tsunami of paperwork and delays due on 1 April 2019. </p>
<p> The corporate mafias are ecstatic that Westminster is ensuring they pay hardly any import taxes and taxation on their profits within UK. Westminster’s own proposals evidence fanciful and specious legislation with zero intention of carrying out effective tax collection anywhere, never mind a hard border.</p>
<p>But “no borders” is a good thing, right? It’s what the EU is all about?</p>
<p>Ok. This is the crux of this article’s argument. Borders are a red-herring.</p>
<blockquote><p>ANALYSIS: <a href="https://www.commonspace.scot/articles/13119/analysis-rhetoric-and-reality-westminster-vs-holyrood-brexit-standoff">Rhetoric and reality in the Westminster vs Holyrood Brexit standoff</a></p>
</blockquote>
<p>Arbitrary lines on a map based on rivers, mountain ranges, decided on by fallen Empires are an extremely daft and outdated way of protecting specific economies and societies and where they raise their respective revenues. Static controls are easily evaded.</p>
<p>Think of self-governing Scotland as an independent legal jurisdiction which has internationally recognised legal boundaries. A Customs officer at an immobile Customs Station, in the 21<sup>st</sup> Century, has very little impact.</p>
<p>Professor Hiroshi Motomura at UCLA has pointed out that the legal precedent for the idea of “functional borders” has been long established. The border be conceptualised, according to his analysis, as “not a fixed location but rather wherever the government performs border functions”.</p>
<p>This analysis is key to understanding, protecting and collecting national revenues and, indeed, immigration policies and laws.</p>
<p>Readers will have now identified that contraband or an illegal immigrant remains illegal (within Statute of Limitations of the Scottish government choosing) on crossing the Tweed irrespective of whether any Customs or Immigration officer detects the offence or not. Or on arrival at any of our ports, airports, coastline, airspace or on the internet, within our jurisdiction. These are “smart borders”. Note: There is no such thing as a smuggling home-run.</p>
<blockquote><p>READ MORE: <a href="https://www.commonspace.scot/articles/3422/special-investigation-why-its-not-just-planes-vanish-bermuda">Why it's not just planes that vanish in Bermuda</a></p>
</blockquote>
<p>A motivated Scottish Customs officer would follow his/her “revenue-nose” to secure taxes due wherever they are liable in Scotland, within his/her legal powers. Tax evaders and avoiders should have to sleep with one eye open every night.</p>
<p>But having grasped this fact, the fundamental collection of due revenues and taxes must also shine through. Revenues due by any individuals, traders and corporations in any of our towns and cities must be paid correctly on time in order to support government cash-flow. Enshrined in our written Constitution and law. What’s not to like?</p>
<p>Except. This concept is anathema to London. “No borders” to them includes no effective, fair tax collection. Anywhere. The EU fundamentally disagrees with them. Brexit, anyone? </p>
<p>Margethe Vestager, the EU Commissioner for competition policy against cartels, antitrusts and mergers, amongst other things, already has the scalps of Google, Starbucks and Apple on her belt.</p>
<p>She stated in a recent speech: “Last June, we fined a group of manufacturers and distributors of the trays used for packaging food in shops and supermarkets. These companies had colluded to keep prices artificially high for years. Dismantling the cartel was like repealing a hidden tax that millions of unsuspecting consumers in Europe were made to pay.”</p>
<blockquote><p>READ MORE – <a href="https://www.commonspace.scot/articles/11986/robin-mcalpine-clean-economy-great-sell-indy-we-have-mean-it">Robin McAlpine: A 'clean economy' is a great sell for indy – but we have to mean it</a></p>
</blockquote>
<p>We lose this protection with Brexit along with security for our brands such as Scotch whisky, Scottish salmon, and so forth. The Transatlantic Trade &amp; Investment Partnership (TTIP) largely failed because the EU did not accept American demands. The UK can now expect to subjugate itself to a similar TTIP demand, effectively becoming the 51<sup>st</sup> State, in order to import American unregulated medicines and foodstuffs etc. Donald Trump, as British Emperor. Sweet. </p>
<p>In 2013 Britain overhauled its anti-corporate tax avoidance regime to attract companies to set up headquarters here and to discourage UK companies moving off-shore by introducing an exemption to its Controlled Foreign Company (CFC) rules. CFC rules are usually intended to stop companies shifting untaxed profits into tax havens but London introduced an exemption for interest income earned by offshore subsidiaries, which tax campaigners said was a major loophole. “Rules targeting tax avoidance cannot go against their purpose and treat some companies better than others,” Vestager said. Everybody’s nightmare is the corporations become too big to control. We need some institution to do it.</p>
<p>This CFC exemption just happened to coincide with EU proposals in 2013 to introduce The European Union financial transaction tax. The tax would impact financial transactions between financial institutions, charging 0.1 per cent against the exchange of shares and bonds and 0.01 per cent across derivative contracts.</p>
<p>You can easily see the EU Commissions effect on London’s multi-billions profits, stocks, shares and derivatives if tax had to be paid on them.</p>
<blockquote><p>READ MORE – <a href="https://www.commonspace.scot/articles/9705/global-justice-now-brexit-exposed-facilitation-big-business">Global Justice Now: Brexit exposed as a “facilitation of big business”</a></p>
</blockquote>
<p>Here’s the thing. Markets left to themselves become the private property of cartels. If we didn’t have the likes of Vestager and the EU Commission we would want something like it to have the collective clout to say No to the corporations, wouldn’t we?</p>
<p>This includes ensuring payment of customs revenues and taxes. The EU attempts to ensure fair market rules for everyone with fair revenues in order to encourage competition. Competition is essential for innovation, customers and the economy.</p>
<p>Take subsidies, for example. You and I, as taxpayers through government departments like Customs, give them to corporations. Are you happy with those being unregulated in post-Brexit UK? No, me neither.</p>
<p>Brexit UK is steaming towards unchecked authoritarian power. Powerful lobbies for the powerful few. Power and wealth versus democracy. Unchallenged.</p>
<p>Communities and society need to trust that tax is fair for all which it won’t be post-Brexit. Clearly, that trust has to be earned with encouragement and education towards tax compliance. In 2005, Gordon Brown carried out economic vandalism by killing HM Customs &amp; Excise on behalf of his corporate mafia cronies. Well, Scotland will need a professional Customs Division to carry out its normal tax collection roles but also its law enforcement responsibilities, through production of evidence to our Courts, in order to protect our society. We need our whole society to trust the integrity of our tax system</p>
<p>Democracy through active participation builds trust and solidarity. Trust is not built through exclusion and xenophobia. This is the strongest argument for open EU cross-border co-operation, not Brexit alienation and xenophobia. </p>
<p>In summary, we have a golden opportunity on the horizon for our society and economy to be a happier, fairer place to live and work. Scotland must seize the hour. But there will be very little point in bringing about independence if all we do is swap a London elite for an Edinburgh one.</p>
<p>Picture courtesy of <a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/tiocfaidh_ar_la_1916/24801256028/in/photolist-azW4bE-5USyoR-ddATEp-5nbk1k-enTzd8-fm1yJA-DMAVmy-FePdni-RPmkd8-ArNT8J-NzSVUT-NzSVU2-8tYQqq-9LCuDF-5Vijbq-gTmz4z-gTmnCt-gTngmE-gTmufM-eotkH5-gTmBvh-gTmrnc-gTnnC5-5pFq1x-gTmP4M-HJomvr">Tiocfaidh ár lá 1916</a></p>
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</div></div></div>Tue, 14 Aug 2018 14:18:14 +0000Ben Wray13142 at https://www.commonspace.scothttps://www.commonspace.scot/articles/13142/bill-austin-brexit-borders-debate-red-herring-what-matters-whether-you-control-your#commentsAfter Netanyahu's intervention: 5 times the Corbyn antisemitism smear campaign has entered the theatre of the absurdhttps://www.commonspace.scot/articles/13141/after-netanyahus-intervention-5-times-corbyn-antisemitism-smear-campaign-has-entered
<div class="field field-name-field-image field-type-image field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" rel="og:image rdfs:seeAlso" resource="https://www.commonspace.scot/sites/default/files/styles/large/public/field/image/6915863273_7420533536_b.jpg?itok=8-mx_h9x"><img typeof="foaf:Image" class="img-responsive" src="https://www.commonspace.scot/sites/default/files/styles/large/public/field/image/6915863273_7420533536_b.jpg?itok=8-mx_h9x" width="643" height="430" alt="" /></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" property="content:encoded"><p>Does Benjamin Netanyahu's call for "condemnation" of Jeremy Corbyn signal a turning point in a remarkable political and media affair?</p>
<p><strong>SINCE Jeremy Corbyn became leader of the Labour party in 2015, there have been innumerable scares, panics and crazes usually connected to some aspect of Corbyn's worldview. All of them have been marked by the involvement of two actors in particular - dissident elements on the right of the Labour party, and most of the media.</strong></p>
<p>Classics have included the IRA smear campaign, Corbyn's <a href="https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/corbyn-nuclear-weapons-heckled-bbc-question-time-leaders-special-video-a7770446.html">refusal to push the nuclear button</a> (thus killing everyone), his supposed <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2018/feb/20/no-evidence-corbyn-was-spy-for-czechoslovakia-say-intelligence-experts">work as a Czech spy</a> who monitored former PM Margaret Thatcher's eating and clothing habits, and that time<a href="https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2016/aug/23/jeremy-corbyn-virgin-trains-disputes-claim-over-lack-of-seats"> the media became obsessed with whether or not there were empty seats on a train</a> that Corbyn complained was full.</p>
<p>But none of these campaigns have consumed as much airtime or newspaper ink as the accusations that, previously, Labour has become endemically antisemitic under Corbyn or, latterly, that Corbyn is himself an antisemite who poses an "existential threat" to the Jewish community in the UK - a joint editorial in three UK Jewish newspapers in July.</p>
<p>In recent months the campaign has reached fever pitch, to the point of entering the theatre of the absurd. CommonSpace documents the five most absurd claims against Corbyn and the Labour party.</p>
<blockquote><p><strong>1) Corbyn conflates Israel with Nazi Germany – except he doesn’t</strong></p>
</blockquote>
<p>In a speech about conditions in Gaza in 2010, Jeremy Corbyn said: “I was in Gaza three months ago. I saw ... the psychological damage to a whole generation, who’ve been imprisoned for as long as the siege of Leningrad and Stalingrad took place.”</p>
<p>According to Corbyn's critics, from back-bench Labour MP Luciana Berger to Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu, this is to make a comparison between Nazi Germany and Israel, and therefore antisemitic.</p>
<p>Except it isn't. As his spokesperson responded: “Jeremy was not comparing the actions of Nazis and Israelis but the conditions of civilian populations in besieged cities in wartime.”</p>
<p>Well, quite. </p>
<blockquote><p><strong>2) Corbyn in a Palestinian cemetery</strong></p>
</blockquote>
<p>In 2014, towards the end of his tenure as a back-bench campaigning MP with a lifelong commitment to the Palestinian cause, Corbyn attended a cemetery in Tunisia which holds the bodies of a number Palestinian activists killed by the Israeli regime.</p>
<p>His purpose was to pay homage to those killed in a 1985 Israeli airstrike against the Palestine Liberation Organisation in Tunis.</p>
<p>Also in the graveyard lay the bodies of four men alleged to be involved in the 1972 Munich attack which killed 11 Israeli athletes.</p>
<p>Physical proximity, apparently, indicates endorsement.</p>
<blockquote><p><strong>3) The incredulity of Netanyahu accusing Corbyn (or anyone else) of racism</strong></p>
</blockquote>
<p>"The laying of a wreath by Jeremy Corbyn on the graves of the terrorist who perpetrated the Munich massacre and his comparison of Israel to the Nazis deserves unequivocal condemnation from everyone – left, right and everything in between."</p>
<p>Israeli PM Benjamin 'Bibi' Netanyahu lashed out at Corbyn yesterday (13 August) by tweet, prompting Corbyn to respond by criticising "the killing of over 160 Palestinian protesters in Gaza by Israeli forces since March".</p>
<p>Netanyahu is more or less the last person on earth who can take the moral high-ground when it comes to accusing others of racism. He is fresh from passing the new nation-state law that has been widely condemned as reducing Arab and other minorities in Israel to a second class status (a status they already held in fact if not law). Nor is he a sound custodian of the history of Jewish oppression. In 2015, he drew criticism from Holocaust historians when he falsely claimed that the murder of 6 million Jews was carried out at the instigation of the Palestinian leadership.</p>
<blockquote><p><strong>4) Jeremy Corbyn meets the ‘wrong Jews’</strong></p>
</blockquote>
<p>One of the more sinister turns in the smear campaign is its propensity for targeting Jewish people themselves. Leftwing and Jewish people who oppose the campaign do, after all, represent a serious danger to its narrative.</p>
<p>In April 2018, as the smear campaign was getting into full swing, Jeremy Corbyn met with a group of young leftwing Jewish people in his own constituency to celebrate the Jewish feast day of Seder, former Labour MP John Woodcock, who has since resigned from the party in July after allegations of sexual harrassment, said “this is deliberately bating the mainstream Jewish community”. How taking part in a celebration of the Jewish community equals antisemitism was never revealed.</p>
<blockquote><p><strong>5) John McDonnell praises the ‘wrong Jews'</strong></p>
</blockquote>
<p>The shadow chancellor gave verbal support to a group called the International Jewish Anti-Zionist Network (IJAN) in 2008, saying it could aid in the representation of radical Jewish opinion. The organisation's charter was criticised for expressing anger and sadness that the Holocaust "is being used to perpetrate other atrocities" - not an unusual criticism to make of the Israeli state, if a controversial one.</p>
<p>IJAN became the focus of the feeding frenzy after its late member and Auschwitz survivor Hajo Meyer was reported to have compared Israeli state killing of Palestinians to Nazi crimes against the Jews.</p>
<p>One can disagree with Meyer's comments and with parts of the IJAN charter. But surely Jewish people themselves have a right to these arguments, especially those like Meyer who have suffered so terribly at the hands of real antisemites.</p>
<blockquote><p>Read more: <a href="https://www.commonspace.scot/articles/13138/shameful-msps-embark-pro-israel-trip-amid-apartheid-law-protests"><strong>'Shameful': MSPs embark on pro-Israel trip amid 'apartheid' law protests</strong></a><br /> </p>
</blockquote>
<p>Picture courtesy of <a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/home_of_chaos/">thierry ehrmann</a></p>
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</div></div></div>Tue, 14 Aug 2018 10:53:20 +0000Ben Wray13141 at https://www.commonspace.scothttps://www.commonspace.scot/articles/13141/after-netanyahus-intervention-5-times-corbyn-antisemitism-smear-campaign-has-entered#commentsTGI Friday? Tip 'robbery' row prompts holiday Friday walkout at food chainhttps://www.commonspace.scot/articles/13139/tgi-friday-tip-robbery-row-prompts-holiday-friday-walkout-food-chain
<div class="field field-name-field-image field-type-image field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" rel="og:image rdfs:seeAlso" resource="https://www.commonspace.scot/sites/default/files/styles/large/public/field/image/8432669881_faf01435f6_b.jpg?itok=VPBvs_X-"><img typeof="foaf:Image" class="img-responsive" src="https://www.commonspace.scot/sites/default/files/styles/large/public/field/image/8432669881_faf01435f6_b.jpg?itok=VPBvs_X-" width="643" height="429" alt="" /></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" property="content:encoded"><p>TGI Fridays workers in London have voted to strike over a new company policy branded ‘tip robbery’</p>
<p><strong>WORKERS will stage a bank holiday walk-out at one the UK's busiest food chains amidst a row over "tip robbery".</strong></p>
<p>Workers at two branches of the popular food chain in London will walk out of work for three days after staff unanimously agreed to support strike action.</p>
<p>76.5 per cent of workers returned their ballot despite reports that some managers pressurised workers not to take part in the vote, and staff will walk out of work at the Milton Keynes, Covent Garden and Stratford City branches of the food chain for three days starting 24 August. </p>
<p>The vote came after a prolonged dispute over a new company policy on tips which means money earned by the front of house staff through tips will be redirected to top-up the "poor wages" of kitchen staff. </p>
<p>Unite estimates that the change, which was introduced with no consultation and two days notice, will leave those affected as much as £60 a week worse off. The company said it was making the change to address the high turnover of kitchen staff. </p>
<p>The restaurant chain, which originated in America, has 81 branches in the UK. CommonSpace was unable to ascertain whether a similar action was being planned at the chains four Scottish restaurants, but the new tip policy will also impact Scottish workers.</p>
<p>Workers at TGI Fridays argue that their tips should not be redirected to kitchen staff and say that the company should pay a fair wage to attract people to work in its kitchens. </p>
<blockquote><p>Read More: <a href="https://www.commonspace.scot/articles/13124/exclusive-underpaid-overworked-and-kept-ignorant-their-rights-exploitation-edinburgh"><strong>Exclusive: Underpaid, overworked and kept ignorant of their rights: the exploitation of Edinburgh Fringe workers – and the fight against it</strong></a></p>
</blockquote>
<p>Speaking to CommonSpace on condition of anonymity, one TGI Fridays staff member in London said that despite some resistance from a few managers, workers were keen to join Unite the Union and get involved in the action to protect their income. </p>
<p>"Some managers have been supportive, especially those who have climbed the ranks after working front of house. Others have seen the action as a complaint against them as managers, but we know that this policy isn't theirs and they have only been told to implement it," she said. </p>
<p>Most staff at the company are understood to earn minimum wage, and as is common throughout the hospitality sector most staff rely on tips to "top-up" their pay packet. Despite the company diverting the workers' tips, the company CEO Karen Foster was recently awarded a 40 per cent pay rise, from £260,000 to £365,000 per annum. </p>
<p>The poor pay received by the chain's kitchen staff falls below the UK average of over £12 an hour, according to the jobs site Indeed. </p>
<blockquote><p>READ MORE: <strong><a href="https://www.commonspace.scot/articles/13134/war-words-breaks-out-between-underbelly-and-union-organiser-over-employment">War of words breaks out between Underbelly and union organiser over employment conditions of Fringe staff</a></strong></p>
</blockquote>
<p>The action is the first in the UK to be centred around tipping policy, and trade union sources suggested that staff at other restaurants across the UK, including Scotland, were watching the campaign closely. Lara McNeill, who sits on Labour's national executive committee, said: "TGI Fridays workers are setting a brave example to all hospitality workers, and showing the bosses that taking tips that workers use to top up their wages in a low pay environment, is not acceptable. </p>
<p>"It's inspiring that these predominately young workers are taking such decisive action against injustice at work and I hope it starts a snowball of industrial action in hospitality workers against low pay and stealing of tips."</p>
<p>According to the TGI Fridays staff member CommonSpace spoke to, customers who are aware of their plight have been supportive: "After some staff appeared on BBC news, I heard from a colleague in another restaurant that one guest had mentioned it when she was being served. </p>
<p>"In the end, the tables around that guest were all talking about it and showing their support, and their servers felt really empowered by that."</p>
<p>Unite official Rhys McCarthy told CommonSpace about how the union was supporting the staff: “Despite facing intense pressure from the company not to strike, our brave members in these three restaurants are taking a stand to stop the bad practice across the entire business. </p>
<blockquote><p>Read More: <a href="https://www.commonspace.scot/articles/12846/edinburgh-fair-fringe-campaign-new-code-practice-does-little-ensure-improved-pay"><strong>Edinburgh Fair Fringe Campaign: New code of practice “does little” to ensure improved pay &amp; conditions</strong></a></p>
</blockquote>
<p>“It takes immense courage to take on a hedge-funded owed, multi-million company like TGI Fridays but the support that our members have had from the public has been great. Customers do not appreciate the deception. They left their tips for the staff and that is where they should go.</p>
<p>"This is a company that thinks it can just shrug off our members' concerns and ignore approaches from the Advisory, Conciliation and Arbitration service Acas with no thought as to the hardship it is causing. </p>
<p>“The waiting staff are now around £60 a week worse off, which is a lot of money when your hourly pay rate is £7.83 or just £5.90 for those aged under 20. And it is a disgraceful act given that the CEO has recently been awarded a pay boost of £105,420. </p>
<p> “We urge TGI Friday’s to work with us to find a better way forward. We are ready to talk to find a sensible solution to this dispute but TGI Friday’s must recognise the distress and hardship its decision has caused, and start rebuilding trust.”</p>
<p>A spokesperson for the American-themed chain said: “Our team members are a part of our Fridays family and we care about them. We believe all our team members should be treated and paid fairly.</p>
<p>"We are listening and are collectively working to find a resolution. In the meantime, we will be doing all we can to ensure our guests receive the usual great dining experience and that the restaurant remains open as normal.”</p>
<p>Picture courtesy of <a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/bigcitysigns/8432669881">Big City Signs</a></p>
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</div></div></div>Mon, 13 Aug 2018 14:09:15 +0000Alasdair Clark13139 at https://www.commonspace.scothttps://www.commonspace.scot/articles/13139/tgi-friday-tip-robbery-row-prompts-holiday-friday-walkout-food-chain#comments'Shameful': MSPs embark on pro-Israel trip amid 'apartheid' law protestshttps://www.commonspace.scot/articles/13138/shameful-msps-embark-pro-israel-trip-amid-apartheid-law-protests
<div class="field field-name-field-image field-type-image field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" rel="og:image rdfs:seeAlso" resource="https://www.commonspace.scot/sites/default/files/styles/large/public/field/image/israel_trip.jpg?itok=B4OIOIbI"><img typeof="foaf:Image" class="img-responsive" src="https://www.commonspace.scot/sites/default/files/styles/large/public/field/image/israel_trip.jpg?itok=B4OIOIbI" width="612" height="459" alt="" /></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" property="content:encoded"><p>Trip leader Jackson Carlaw declines to answer if MSPs will visit with minority groups affected by new laws enshrining the "apartheid nature" of Israel</p>
<p><strong>PALESTINE solidarity activists have lashed out at a cross-party delegation of MSPs who have departed on a trip in aid of "building bridges" with Israel, as a storm of protest hits the country over controversial new laws.</strong></p>
<p>A spokesperson for delegation leader and Conservative MSP Jackson Carlaw refused to answer whether the group, which includes SNP and Labour MSPs, would meet with protesters in Israel who are opposing the new law to hear their views, refusing to reveal their itinerary citing "security concerns".</p>
<p>The week long visit comes as Israel is gripped by a wave of protests against a new nation-state law which privileges Jewish citizens over citizens from other ethnic and religious groups, including more than 1.6 million Arab citizens of Israel, many of whom identify as Palestinian and remained on their land after 1948, when 700,000 Palestinians were forced to flee their lands.</p>
<p>Thousands demonstrated in Tel Aviv on Saturday [11 August] against the law, which privileges Hebrew as the official language over Arabic, establishes, as a state objective, the development of settlements which are a major point of contention in the occupied West Bank and asserts that "the exercise of the right to national self-determination in the State of Israel is unique to the Jewish People", meaning that other claims to self-determination are not recognised.</p>
<p>The delegation, which includes Carlaw, fellow Tory MSPs Murdo Fraser and Bill Bowman, SNP MSP Richard Lyle and Labour MSP Mary Fee, are all members of the Building Bridges with Israel (BBI) group in the Scottish Parliament.</p>
<p>Speaking to CommonSpace, Sofiah MacLeod of the Scottish Palestine Solidarity Campaign (SPSC) described BBI as a "forum for the pro-Israel lobby group in Scotland".</p>
<p>She said: "There is no question that the so-called ‘Building Bridges with Israel’ Cross Party Group is a forum for the pro-Israel lobby group in Scotland. The group was established to deal with rising sympathy with the Palestinian cause in Scotland, including amongst elected representatives, and to counter the strong campaign for the Palestinian call for boycott, divestment and sanctions against the state of Israel (BDS) – Israeli officials saw Scotland as a “hub” for BDS campaigning. </p>
<blockquote><p>Read more: <a href="https://www.commonspace.scot/articles/13012/irish-parliament-upper-house-becomes-first-eu-pass-motion-banning-israeli-settlement"><strong>Irish Parliament Upper House becomes first in EU to pass motion banning Israeli settlement goods</strong></a></p>
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<p>"Scottish PSC has worked hard over the years to respond to the BDS Call from Palestinian civil society, claiming some key victories around cultural boycott, attempts to criminalise BDS activity and through campaigns around complicit companies such as Eden Springs and Veolia. It is no surprise that the Israeli government and their partners would work so hard to try to win back some ground in Scotland.</p>
<p>"All this while the Israeli government codifies the apartheid nature of the state of Israel in law, and as they orchestrate an international campaign of smears against political opponents – be they Israeli, Jewish or non-Jews – with the intention of threatening reputations, jobs, university tenures and scholarships, it is shameful that these MSPs are willing to be hosted and feted by the perpetrators."</p>
<p>Responding to the criticism, Carlaw's spokeperson said: "It goes without saying that the attendees support the right of Israel to exist and have nothing further to add on the comments from the SPSC."</p>
<p>Responding to CommonSpace requests for an itinerary of events and orgnisations to be visited by the group, a spokesperson for Carlaw said: "We are unable to disclose the itinerary in advance as you will appreciate security concerns play a part for some of the visit. Where appropriate pictures will be put out on social media following individual visits.</p>
<p>"A full report of the trip will be provided to the next meeting of the Building Bridges with Israel Cross Party Group."</p>
<p>Carlaw has posted about visits to the Israeli Supreme Court and the Yad Vashem Holocaust Rembrance centre on the first day of the trip (13 August).</p>
<p>BBI describes its purpose as to "engage with Israel and build links based on business, culture and academia as well as exploring and countering issues of anti-Semitism at home and abroad."</p>
<blockquote><p>Read more: <a href="https://www.commonspace.scot/articles/12865/fiery-debate-gaza-snp18-sees-standing-ovation-call-suspend-uk-arms-sales-israel"><strong>Fiery debate on Gaza at #SNP18 sees standing ovation for call to suspend UK arms sales to Israel</strong></a></p>
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<p>It is supported by several pro-Israel campaigning groups such as Scottish Friends of Israel and Confederation of Friends of Israel Scotland as well as the Israeli Consul in Scotland, Stanley Lovatt.</p>
<p>The minutes of the group's proceedings [13 June] appear to confirm SPSC's view that the group was established to push back against Scottish pro-Palestinian activism.</p>
<p>Its most recent batch of minutes concludes with Carlaw asserting that opposing "anti-Israel rhetoric" was a focus of the group.</p>
<p>They read: "Jackson thanked the speakers and noted that part of the reason the group was formed was to deal with anti-Israel rhetoric, and noted the challenges are quite profound."</p>
<p>The new nation state law, established as a 'basic law' of the Israeli state in July, and therefore difficult to repeal or alter, comes on the heels of President Donald Trump's decision to move the US embassy to Jerusalem, enacted on 14 May. The move met with mass protests from Palestinians, who viewed it as a repudiation of the aspiration to Palestinian statehood, and violent incursions against Palestinian protesters and communities by Israeli armed forces.</p>
<p>At least 110 Palestinians were killed over two weeks of protests, which also demanded an end to the ongoing siege of Gaza by the Israeli state, which has seen living standards decline to the stage where the strip is “unlivable”, according to the UN.</p>
<p>A spokesperson for Lyle would only confirm he was on the trip and would return at the end of the week. Fee had not responded by time of publication.</p>
<p>Picture: Twitter</p>
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</div></div></div>Mon, 13 Aug 2018 14:00:14 +0000Ben Wray13138 at https://www.commonspace.scothttps://www.commonspace.scot/articles/13138/shameful-msps-embark-pro-israel-trip-amid-apartheid-law-protests#commentsHuman rights legal bid against Serco eviction of Iraqi asylum seeker could set a precedenthttps://www.commonspace.scot/articles/13137/human-rights-legal-bid-against-serco-eviction-iraqi-asylum-seeker-could-set-precedent
<div class="field field-name-field-image field-type-image field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" rel="og:image rdfs:seeAlso" resource="https://www.commonspace.scot/sites/default/files/styles/large/public/field/image/893883885_a5a06b9313_b.jpg?itok=fBuQfUN8"><img typeof="foaf:Image" class="img-responsive" src="https://www.commonspace.scot/sites/default/files/styles/large/public/field/image/893883885_a5a06b9313_b.jpg?itok=fBuQfUN8" width="612" height="459" alt="" /></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" property="content:encoded"><p>Govan Law Centre has announced new proceedings against an Iraqi national threatened with eviction</p>
<p><strong>HUMAN RIGHTS law will be used to challenge the legality of the evictions planned by the government outsourcing giant Serco in Glasgow, in a test case involving an Iraqi asylum seeker which could set a precedent for the 300 asylum seekers in the city under threat of eviction. </strong></p>
<p>Govan Law Centre are pursuing a case on behalf of the as-yet unnamed asylum seeker, who was threatened with eviction after her husband's asylum application was unsuccessful with the Home Office, which will argue European human rights law affords asylum seekers the right to challenge their eviction. </p>
<p>The test case could force Serco to re-think its plan to summarily evict over 300 asylum seekers without affording them the usual due process afforded to Scottish tenants. </p>
<p>The legal proceedings will be conducted alongside a similar case also headed by Govan Law Centre [GLC], as well as actions in Glasgow Sheriff Court by Shelter Scotland on behalf of others affected. </p>
<p>GLC said that in addition to legal arguments around Scots contract law, Scots common law and the Rent (Scotland) Act 1984, solicitor advocate Mike Dailly would also advance legal arguments surrounding "important" Human Rights Act principles which he says are currently untested in the UK legal system. </p>
<p>Serco was forced into retreat after it announced that it would evict over 300 "failed" asylum seekers without following the usual process needed to carry out an eviction in Scotland. The government outsourcing giant, which houses refugees on behalf of the Home Office, halted any further evictions and delayed action against six people already served with eviction notices by 21 days after a major community campaign. </p>
<blockquote><p>Read More: <a href="https://www.commonspace.scot/articles/13092/explainer-why-are-asylum-seekers-glasgow-facing-mass-eviction-and-humanitarian-crisis"><strong>Explainer: Why are asylum seekers in Glasgow facing mass eviction and a 'humanitarian crisis'?</strong></a></p>
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<p>Explaining the law he would rely on, Dailly told CommonSpace: "Following the successful European Court of Human Rights case of Panyushkiny v. Russia [2018], we believe an asylum seeker at risk of eviction has the right to challenge the proportionality of that eviction before an independent tribunal as a matter of human rights law. </p>
<p>"GLC believes Serco’s ‘Move on Protocol’ is unlawful and incompatible with the 1998 Human Rights Act, and it’s incumbent upon Serco to place its entire policy on hold in Scotland, pending Scotland’s Supreme Court having an opportunity to consider and rule on this issue".</p>
<p>The European Court of Human Rights ruled in favour of Marina Panyushkina and Vyacheslav Panyushkin, a single mother and her son. Panyushkina was granted asylum in Russia in 1995 but was later evicted from her home with her son after her status was revoked by Russian authorities.</p>
<p>The court found that Article 8 of the Panyushkina’s human rights, the right to a home, had been breached and awarded them over 7000 euros. </p>
<p>Although the UK Government rejects over 85 per cent of asylum applications from people fleeing Iraq, official statistics show that many of these decisions are often overturned on appeal in the higher courts, an option still open to GLC’s client. </p>
<p>As well as the series of legal challenges, a radical community campaign has sprung up in resistance to the proposed evictions by Serco, with over 500 over people signing up to volunteer for direct action to provide around the clock resistance to any attempted evictions. </p>
<p>Sandra White MSP told CommonSpace that she felt the Home Office was making the wrong decisions on asylum cases due to the department's inability to manage its caseload, but despite their rate of failure in the courts, the Home Office has consistently defended its system of asylum. </p>
<blockquote><p>Read More: <a href="https://www.commonspace.scot/articles/13114/game-changer-housing-association-warns-serco-lock-changes-need-permission"><strong>'Game changer': Housing association warns Serco that lock changes need permission</strong></a></p>
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<p>Scotland's tenants' union, Living Rent, have also secured support for their resistance to the evictions from some of Glasgow's largest housing associations, which rent properties to Serco which are used to house asylum seekers. </p>
<p>One housing association, Maryhill Housing, told Serco that it would be in breach of contract if it attempted to change the locks on any of its properties without permission. Another said that it would seek to agree direct contracts with refugees housed in its properties, effectively removing Serco from the process. </p>
<p>Serco did not respond to specific questions from CommonSpace, but in an earlier statement said that the company had been subject to "vile abuse", arguing that it had housed "failed" asylum seekers throughout Glasgow at a significant cost without being reimbursed by the Home Office. </p>
<p>The Scottish Government announced last week that it would provide £110,000 to the Destitute Asylum Seeker Service, the funds will allow charities to double their capacity and support homeless asylum seekers for up to six months. </p>
<p>Although no asylum seekers are at immediate threat of eviction, it is thought likely that legal teams will seek to quickly secure an agreement that no evictions will take place until all the legal cases have been tested in Scotland's Supreme Court. </p>
<p>Picture courtesy of <a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/ex_libris_gul/893883885">Heather</a></p>
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</div></div></div>Mon, 13 Aug 2018 11:32:01 +0000Alasdair Clark13137 at https://www.commonspace.scothttps://www.commonspace.scot/articles/13137/human-rights-legal-bid-against-serco-eviction-iraqi-asylum-seeker-could-set-precedent#commentsOlivia McMahon: I was bullied at school and felt like an outcast - but now I'm proud to call myself an LGBT inclusive-education activisthttps://www.commonspace.scot/articles/13136/olivia-mcmahon-i-was-bullied-school-and-felt-outcast-now-im-proud-call-myself-lgbt
<div class="field field-name-field-image field-type-image field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" rel="og:image rdfs:seeAlso" resource="https://www.commonspace.scot/sites/default/files/styles/large/public/field/image/tie2.jpg?itok=xEwzjB0j"><img typeof="foaf:Image" class="img-responsive" src="https://www.commonspace.scot/sites/default/files/styles/large/public/field/image/tie2.jpg?itok=xEwzjB0j" width="555" height="459" alt="" /></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" property="content:encoded"><p>Olivia McMahon (pictured above) writes about her experience of coming out as gay in the second year of secondary school, being bullied and feeling like school education was biased against her inducing anxiety, to being inspired by the TIE campaign to become an activist for LGBT-inclusive education, and what still needs to be done to change things</p>
<p><strong>IF I HAD been told five years ago that I would be marching at the front of the Glasgow Pride parade with First Minister Nicola Sturgeon, and campaigning for LGBT-inclusive education in Scotland’s schools, I would never have believed it.</strong></p>
<p>Leading the parade with our First Minister was the best day of my life and it has only fuelled my passion to make sure that no young person in Scotland has to endure what I, and so many others like me, had to in our time at school.</p>
<p>For most of my childhood I had battled with my mental health, and with bullying at school. When I came out as gay in 2013, I had just entered into my second year of secondary school, and it wasn't long before vicious gossip and rumours were spread about me.</p>
<blockquote><p>READ MORE: <a href="https://www.commonspace.scot/articles/13128/lgbt-campaign-and-teachers-union-call-leading-scottish-tories-distance-themselves">LGBT campaign and teachers' union call on leading Scottish Tories to distance themselves from anti-Trans article calling teachers 'abusive nihilists'</a></p>
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<p>I was not only dealing with undiagnosed Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (which wasn’t diagnosed until I left education) but now also the reaction of those around me after I came out. I was laughed at, gossiped about, had things thrown at me, was called various names and none of the girls in my year would come near me.</p>
<p>The school’s changing rooms quickly became my worst nightmare. I was in a corner by myself whilst the other girls would hide themselves, ignore me, and glare with disapproving eyes. Our Personal and Social Education (PSE) class was also a particular anxiety inducing hour for me, as I was never taught anything that I needed to know. Everything was discussed with a heterosexual bias and it made me feel even more ‘abnormal’.</p>
<p>As my confidence began to grow, though, so did my voice. I questioned my Guidance teacher at the time: “why is there no mention of LGBT seuxal health or even sexual relationships?” and the reply that I received was that there just wasn’t the training or resources to teach about same-sex relationships yet.</p>
<blockquote><p>READ MORE: <a href="https://www.commonspace.scot/articles/12954/holyrood-marks-third-anniversary-tie-campaign-rainbow-ties-chamber-and-commitment">Holyrood marks third anniversary of the TIE campaign with rainbow ties in the chamber and a commitment to inclusive education</a></p>
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<p>That just reiterated the feeling that I was not normal - because if I was, my identity and my relationships would be taught - or at least mentioned. I continued to question my teachers about LGBT-inclusive education; if we were in class having discussions about relationships and the teacher would use heteronormative language, I would raise my hand and remind them about the LGBT community.</p>
<p>Thankfully by around 2016, attitudes in my school began to change. Same-sex relationships and LGBT-inclusive sexual health began to be discussed in my PSE classes. My teachers were not equipped with a lot of information or training at that point - but at least it was a start. Then the rainbow gay pride flags and Stonewall posters began to appear on classroom walls, in corridors, and my school were beginning to take a zero tolerance approach to homophobic, biphobic and transphobic bullying.</p>
<p>All of this came too late for me though, as the damage was already done by then, but I did feel relieved that future generations of LGBT young people coming through my school would be at a greater and safer advantage.</p>
<p>For three years I have been a strong supporter of the Time For Inclusive Education (TIE) campaign, and even more so as one of the group’s co-founders also used to attend my high school.</p>
<blockquote><p>READ MORE – <a href="https://www.commonspace.scot/articles/12731/liam-stevenson-4-years-ago-i-got-involved-yes-campaign-it-changed-my-life-good">Liam Stevenson: 4 years ago I got involved in the Yes campaign - it changed my life for good</a></p>
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<p>The work that they have been doing, in lobbying for LGBT-inclusive education in all schools, has had a life altering impact on many young people. I knew that I had to be involved in this campaign somehow, as this was all I had wished for while I was in secondary school.</p>
<p>If TIE had existed back in 2012, I know for sure that I would’ve had more hope for knowing that people were fighting my corner and acknowledging the homophobia, biphobia, and transphobia happening in schools around the country.</p>
<p>The campaign has brought the issues facing LGBT youth in education to the forefront of the national agenda, and with strong political figures such as our First Minister Nicola Sturgeon, Scottish Greens Co-Convener Patrick Harvie and celebrities such as actress Emma Thompson supporting them, it has also brought hope to the young minds of today.</p>
<p>For those LGBT kids going through some of the most horrendous experiences, the support for TIE has shown that there is hope and that there are people who care and who are willing to fight for them. We will not stop until every young person in Scotland is safe in school and included equally in all aspects of their education. Education is the most important place to start in changing attitudes.</p>
<blockquote><p>READ MORE – <a href="https://www.commonspace.scot/articles/12623/losing-faith-mental-health-crisis-facing-young-scots">'Losing faith': the mental health crisis facing young Scots</a></p>
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<p>A report released by TIE in 2016 shows just how important it is to continue in our work. 90 per cent of LGBT people have experienced homophobia, biphobia and transphobia at school, whilst 64 per cent have been directly bullied because of their sexual orientation or gender identity.</p>
<p>27 per cent of LGBT people have attempted suicide as a result of bullying, whilst 15 per cent have tried more than once. 95 per cent of LGBT people believe that the bullying they experienced at school has had a long lasting negative impact on them.</p>
<p>The picture is not much brighter when it comes to teachers. 80 per cent of them do not feel that they have been adequately trained on how to tackle homophobia, biphobia and transphobia, despite 87 per cent reporting that they regularly hear homophobic, biphobic or transphobic language at school.</p>
<p>The TIE Campaign marks the beginning of a long road towards LGBT-inclusive education in all of our schools. We need funding, we need more political figures on board, we need LGBT people from everywhere sharing our message of hope, equality and change.</p>
<p>We also need an improved youth mental health service to deal with the growing epidemic of mental health issues experienced by young people today. We need allies who are not frm the LGBT community to look out for their peers, and we need teachers to be willing to change their style of teaching to ensure that they are LGBT inclusive, in order to adequately support all of the young people in their care.</p>
<p>Picture courtesy of the TIE campaign</p>
<blockquote><p>ENJOY READING COMMONSPACE? <a href="https://www.commonspace.scot/articles/12623/losing-faith-mental-health-crisis-facing-young-scots">Click here to get our daily newsletter so you never miss a story</a></p>
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</div></div></div>Mon, 13 Aug 2018 11:07:32 +0000Ben Wray13136 at https://www.commonspace.scothttps://www.commonspace.scot/articles/13136/olivia-mcmahon-i-was-bullied-school-and-felt-outcast-now-im-proud-call-myself-lgbt#commentsFilmSpace - Unfriended: Dark Webhttps://www.commonspace.scot/articles/13135/filmspace-unfriended-dark-web
<div class="field field-name-field-image field-type-image field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" rel="og:image rdfs:seeAlso" resource="https://www.commonspace.scot/sites/default/files/styles/large/public/field/image/filmspace_banner_30_9.jpg?itok=TBUG8IiU"><img typeof="foaf:Image" class="img-responsive" src="https://www.commonspace.scot/sites/default/files/styles/large/public/field/image/filmspace_banner_30_9.jpg?itok=TBUG8IiU" width="643" height="361" alt="" /></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" property="content:encoded"><p>Film critic Scott Wilson reviews Unfriended: Dark Web, which continues the trend of horror reacting to society’s mood at the time</p>
<blockquote><p><strong>Unfriended: Dark Web – </strong>★★★☆☆</p>
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<p>Arguably, horror is one of the most adept genres at tapping into the mood of society at any given time. Whether it was home invasions by poltergeists and masked baddies at the end of the 20<sup>th</sup> century or torture porn in the 2000s, the prevalence of a certain style is acting in response to something else. This decade has been a golden era of horror thanks to the likes of The Babadook, It Follows, and The Witch for their ideological commentary, and they share the horror label with the critically acclaimed Get Out which resonated throughout post-Black Lives Matter America.</p>
<p>Unfriended: Dark Web acts as a stand-alone sequel to 2015’s Unfriended, both of which are told through a screencast of the central character’s desktop. They play out in real time as the protagonist clicks on Spotify, Facebook, and Skype while chatting to their friends. Unlike most representations of technology in cinema, programmes that are now part of everyday life actually act how they do in reality, apart from a few aesthetic differences and behaviours necessary to propel the plot along.</p>
<p>What both films get right is mining horror from our extremely online status. Despite websites like Twitter acting as breeding grounds for Nazis and flat-earthers – a different kind of horror – the internet is often used as a safe space. It is also an invasive space, a means of communication right on our laps and in our pockets. Director Levan Gabriadze was attracted to Unfriended because of how bullying no longer stops at the school gates, it can follow you home.</p>
<blockquote><p>Without the supernatural elements, there are far fewer jumpscares, to the extent Unfriended: Dark Web is an ideal entry-point for those curious about horror.</p>
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<p>Somewhat miraculously for a film utilising just a desktop screen, Unfriended was a legitimately spooky watch, with gruesome imagery, effective use of horrifying sounds, and a dreadful sense of inevitability.</p>
<p>Where before the young group were terrorised by something supernatural, Unfriended: Dark Web turns to the shady corners of the internet, where cryptocurrency is used to pay for illegal services. We follow the actions of Matias who initially brags of the power his new computer has, using it to Skype his friends for a game night while video calling Amaya, his girlfriend. Amaya is deaf and Matias has created an app called Papaya, a translator in which an English input is translated into American sign language, for him to communicate with her. She gets annoyed that it is a one-way service since it does not help her communicate with him.</p>
<p>While logged into Facebook, a number of people start messaging the saved profile from the laptop’s previous owner, someone with the name Norah C. IV. These messages demand products that have been paid for and have questions about unfulfilled promises. Matias is interested in who the laptop’s previous owner was, and by exploring its hidden files, he and his friends uncover some disturbing videos of kidnapped women either being held captive or tortured.</p>
<p>After discovering where Amaya lives, the laptop’s owner threatens to kill her unless Matias gives it back, and none of his friends are allowed to know this is happening. From there it becomes a balancing act of bargaining and avoiding the previous owner’s anger, as well as the owner’s online contacts.</p>
<blockquote><p>READ MORE FROM FILMSPACE – <a href="https://www.commonspace.scot/articles/13111/filmspace-ant-man-and-wasp">Ant-Man and the Wasp</a></p>
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<p>Without the supernatural elements, there are far fewer jumpscares, to the extent Unfriended: Dark Web is an ideal entry-point for those curious about horror. It is a grisly and cruel experience, but not one that will revisit that evening in bed, wondering if that shadow just crawled up the wall.</p>
<p>In its cruelty is where it earns the horror label. A web of observers, affiliates of the laptop’s owner, make their presence known when things are not going as planned with brutal consequences. Unlike many horror films with a young-adult group at its core, these individuals are not unlikable. Often, characters in horror act in unrealistic ways or behave in such terrible ways their deaths almost feel deserved. Here, terrible actions really feel terrible.</p>
<p>Indeed, maybe it is unrealistic Matias does not just log off sooner, but in that is the modernity which the film is about. People are addicted to their devices and the internet, and even if it feels the characters become complicit in what happens to them, that is the point. They, and therefore we, lack the skills to switch off.</p>
<p>Given the internet’s expansive underbelly, it is ripe for these kinds of stories, though Unfriended: Dark Web never quite commits to any one point, instead revelling more in a similar dread to its predecessor. It hints at a monster no longer under our beds or in our cupboards, but behind the unfamiliar username. It also hints at the atrocities being committed without detection, easily bought for and sold on an undetected marketplace. Its allusions to complex themes draw attention to its disinterest in them, instead taking all it needs from them to provide some scares.</p>
<p>While it didn’t keep me up at night, it did make me put a post-it note over my webcam. Maybe it did do its job after all.</p>
</div></div></div>Mon, 13 Aug 2018 00:34:56 +0000Idlemild13135 at https://www.commonspace.scothttps://www.commonspace.scot/articles/13135/filmspace-unfriended-dark-web#commentsWar of words breaks out between Underbelly and union organiser over employment conditions of Fringe staffhttps://www.commonspace.scot/articles/13134/war-words-breaks-out-between-underbelly-and-union-organiser-over-employment
<div class="field field-name-field-image field-type-image field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" rel="og:image rdfs:seeAlso" resource="https://www.commonspace.scot/sites/default/files/styles/large/public/field/image/3856809907_f6baf0c75c_z.jpg?itok=_MQm_wF7"><img typeof="foaf:Image" class="img-responsive" src="https://www.commonspace.scot/sites/default/files/styles/large/public/field/image/3856809907_f6baf0c75c_z.jpg?itok=_MQm_wF7" width="643" height="427" alt="" /></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" property="content:encoded"><p>Fair Fringe representative challenges one of the festival’s biggest employers to commit to the real Living Wage</p>
<p><strong>UNDERBELLY, one of the biggest venue operators and events promoters at the Edinburgh Fringe, have strongly denied accusations of unfair employment conditions made by Unite Scotland hospitality organiser Bryan Simpson on behalf of the Fair Fringe campaign, who defended his criticisms of the company.</strong></p>
<p>CommonSpace <strong><a href="https://www.commonspace.scot/articles/13124/exclusive-underpaid-overworked-and-kept-ignorant-their-rights-exploitation-edinburgh">reported on Wednesday</a></strong> on a Fair Fringe report based on a survey of festival workers, which revealed that many work schedules breach the legal limit on working hours and more than half of staff receive less than the minimum wage, in what Simpson described as “systematic exploitation of staff”. </p>
<p>Simpson claimed that Underbelly, one of the so-called ‘Big Four’ venue operators during the Edinburgh festival season, were going to use unpaid volunteers despite efforts to get them to sign up to the Fair Fringe Charter, which the SummerHall venue has signed up to.</p>
<p>Responding, Underbelly argued via a press statement released by the Corner Shop PR agency: “Not for the first time Unite has publicly accused Underbelly of unfair employment conditions and, once again, it is absolutely untrue.”</p>
<p>Underbelly further claim that they “have not had any communications from Mr Simpson or Unite in relation to the Fair Fringe this year.”</p>
<blockquote><p>“We believe it is extremely important that those who work at the Fringe are treated fairly and we take exception to any suggestion that we do not so.” Underbelly press statement</p>
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<p>The Underbelly statement continues: “We believe it is extremely important that those who work at the Fringe are treated fairly and we take exception to any suggestion that we do not do so. </p>
<p>“There are organisations at the Fringe who do not treat their employees fairly. Underbelly is not one of them. </p>
<p>“Underbelly employs 470 people at the Edinburgh Fringe and we’re very proud that we bring significant employment to Edinburgh.”</p>
<blockquote><p>READ MORE: <strong><a href="https://www.commonspace.scot/articles/13124/exclusive-underpaid-overworked-and-kept-ignorant-their-rights-exploitation-edinburgh">Exclusive; Underpaid, overworked and kept ignorant of their rights: the exploitation of Edinburgh Fringe workers – and the fight against it</a></strong></p>
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<p>In detailing the conditions of its employees, Underbelly have stated that all staff are paid the enhanced national living wage “or more”, regardless of age; that there is no use of volunteers by Underbelly at the Edinburgh Fringe; no zero hours contracts; paid breaks and training; and that 100 per cent of tips go to staff.</p>
<p>Characterising Simpson’s statements as “lies”, Underbelly described the claims as “upsetting and unfounded.”</p>
<p>Simpson retracted the claim that the union had made attempts recently to contact Underbelly about its employment practises (with the last contact being with Underbelly’s former director Charlie Wood in December last year), but defended his remarks that the company has “unfair employment conditions”.</p>
<p> “This is true because they do,” Simpson told CommonSpace, adding that he considered Underbelly’s statement to be a “personal attack” on him.</p>
<blockquote><p>READ MORE: <strong><a href="https://www.commonspace.scot/articles/12846/edinburgh-fair-fringe-campaign-new-code-practice-does-little-ensure-improved-pay">Edinburgh Fair Fringe Campaign: New code of practice “does little” to ensure improved pay &amp; conditions</a></strong></p>
</blockquote>
<p>Simpson went on to refer to a controversy in November of 2017, when Underbelly – which in March of last year won the £800,000 contract to run the famous Edinburgh Hogmanay street party for the next three years – was urged to stop using volunteer labour, after advertising for 300 unpaid positions that would require volunteers to work in exchange for travel expenses and a personalised certificate. Unique Events, which previously hosted the Hogmanay festivities, confirmed that it had never used unpaid volunteers at previous New Year’s celebrations.</p>
<p>Simpson told CommonSpace: “In July last year, the company <strong><a href="http://www.thenational.scot/news/15690756.Edinburgh_Hogmanay_organisers_slammed_for_seeking_300_unpaid_volunteers/">advertised for almost 300 unpaid volunteers</a> </strong>to work for 12 hours as ambassadors without any wages. I doubt that any reasonable person would regard being asked to work in the freezing cold for three shifts for free as ‘fair employment conditions’.</p>
<p>“This was not only in <strong><a href="http://www.heraldscotland.com/news/15776912.Fresh_pressure_heaped_on_Hogmanay_organisers_after_unpaid_adverts_removed/">contradiction to the Volunteer Scotland Charter</a></strong> which states that volunteers should never be used to replace previously paid staff but it may have been illegal. Section 44 of NMW Act (1998) is quite clear that the only organisation exempt from paying the NMW are charities, voluntary organisations, associated fund-raising bodies or statutory bodies. Underbelly was and still is a Private Limited Company which pocketed £419,478 for its 3 shareholders in 2016. It does not fulfil any of the legal definitions which make it exempt from paying the National Minimum Wage.”</p>
<blockquote><p>“If they wish to engage with the Fair Fringe campaign and prove that they are indeed ‘one of the best employers at the Fringe’ then they should put their money where their mouth is and sign-up to our Fair Fringe Charter.” Unite Scotland hospitality organiser Bryan Simpson</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Mere days before the 2017 Hogmanay event took place, <strong><a href="https://www.scotsman.com/lifestyle/culture/hogmanay-organisers-in-climbdown-over-volunteer-roles-1-4647722">it was reported </a></strong>that Underbelly had agreed to pay wages to dozens of volunteer ‘Hogmanay Ambassadors’ and pull adverts for nearly 50 volunteer manager and supervisor positions, following talks with trade union leaders and festival organisers, as well as an<strong><a href="http://www.heraldscotland.com/news/15787309.Nicola_Sturgeon_wades_into_row_over_unpaid_Hogmanay_workers/"> intervention by First Minister Nicola Sturgeon</a></strong>, who said she expected event organisers to abide by the Volunteer Scotland Charter.</p>
<p>Describing these previous interactions with Underbelly, Simpson says: “On 21 December we met with their previous Director Charlie Wood regarding their use of unpaid volunteers. It was <strong><a href="https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/company-retreats-over-hogmanay-volunteer-roles-0kgv872qw">only after this meeting and the public pressure</a></strong> which ensued that they agreed to pay some staff.”</p>
<p>Correspondence from Wood to Bryan Simpson, then acting on behalf of Better Than Zero and Unite, seen by CommonSpace appears to confirm that this meeting took place.</p>
<p>Simpson continued: “If they wish to engage with the Fair Fringe campaign and prove that they are indeed ‘one of the best employers at the Fringe’ then they should put their money where their mouth is and sign-up to our Fair Fringe Charter which ensures (amongst others) that staff are paid the real living wage of £8.75.”</p>
<p>The Fringe is one of the biggest cultural festivals in the world, and runs in Edinburgh throughout the month of August.</p>
<p>Picture courtesy of<a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/pressthebigredbutton/3856809907/in/photolist-6SPadx-6SY53d-cWSf1E-5hGmFq-cXZVjh-kZkWV-fKX95y-5e89Ze-acBfRN-fJxuxX-fDUw2N-fKF2WP-8xNUzX-6TGUtb-6TD53R-d1CqjQ-fHDTwR-fHW6h3-8sdR7f-ozCwXS-fDYQdS-fHEfDK-6TGZME-fJPmyn-fDYRBS-5gMhyA-7VpUL8-fD6NSe-8q3Xad-fHeMgx-6TD4ea-3191oH-fKXaEh-5hghMo-fHedVH-fDnJny-fDB341-6TCMb2-fKjUy1-fHKCzM-fDGdTi-6TCMyZ-fKX9e7-fK3JYz-fKjUEh-fDBU2t-6TGMFW-fKX9sy-fDonq9-6TCNVa"> Russell McGovern</a></p>
<blockquote><p><strong>Enjoy reading CommonSpace?</strong> <strong><a href="https://www.commonspace.scot/civicrm/mailing/subscribe">Click here</a></strong> to get our daily newsletter so you never miss a story. </p>
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</div></div></div>Fri, 10 Aug 2018 10:37:27 +0000SeanBell13134 at https://www.commonspace.scothttps://www.commonspace.scot/articles/13134/war-words-breaks-out-between-underbelly-and-union-organiser-over-employment#commentsBriana Pegado: We are facing a cultural crisis if the creative industries do not become more diversehttps://www.commonspace.scot/articles/13133/briana-pegado-we-are-facing-cultural-crisis-if-creative-industries-do-not-become-more
<div class="field field-name-field-image field-type-image field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" rel="og:image rdfs:seeAlso" resource="https://www.commonspace.scot/sites/default/files/styles/large/public/field/image/8750275571_5fda61700d_z.jpg?itok=YwrASVKf"><img typeof="foaf:Image" class="img-responsive" src="https://www.commonspace.scot/sites/default/files/styles/large/public/field/image/8750275571_5fda61700d_z.jpg?itok=YwrASVKf" width="643" height="428" alt="" /></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" property="content:encoded"><p>Briana Pegado, founder and director of the Edinburgh Student Arts Festival, argues that the future of creativity will be bleak if the problem of lack of cultural diversity in the industry is not tackled – if the industry does not reflect the reality of human experience, how can it be relevant?</p>
<p><strong>IN HIS book Outliers, Malcolm Gladwell conducted study after study pinning down the conditions for true genius. Gladwell quotes sociologist Pitirim Sorokin, ‘that intellect and achievement are far from perfectly correlated’. It is support from a community, demographic luck, access to resources and time richness that makes for a genius.</strong></p>
<p>Only 2.7 per cent of workers from museums, galleries and libraries in the UK are BAME. Which is nearly half of the figures in TV, Film and Radio (4.2 per cent) and in Music, Performing Arts and Visual Arts (4.8 per cent). When it comes to sectors like Publishing, 12.6 per cent come from working class origins, 12.4 per cent from working class origins in TV, Film and Radio and 18.2 per cent in music, performing and visual arts. When unpaid work is said to be ‘endemic’ in the sector, and we are still facing an ‘old boys’ network’ in the creative industries’ - Houston, we have more than a problem.</p>
<p>If we continue on like this the future will have no artists. The future will have no painters, musicians, dancers, designers, makers, actors, writers, directors, filmmakers, sculptors, printmakers, animators, fashion designers, writers, poets, photographers, and artisans. None to speak of. Those that do exist will all look the same. They will all make the same work, recycle the same ideas, and only support a small circle of people that look like them up the career ladder which will make their work even more irrelevant as it departs further and further from the reality of the human experience. The door will continue to be shut behind them as unpaid internships, unsubsidised volunteer opportunities, and paid vacancies will be spread via word of mouth, through recommendations of people they already know and work with as the pool of new talent becomes a cesspool of recycled ideas, experiences and material.</p>
<blockquote><p>READ MORE – <a href="https://www.commonspace.scot/articles/12718/stephen-ashe-why-russell-howard-wrong-about-workplace-racism">Stephen Ashe: Why Russell Howard is wrong about workplace racism</a></p>
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<p>An age-old class system will be reinvented and reborn, successfully capitalising on a human right that has always been free - our human nature to think, innovate and create. These abilities inherent to our humanity which has allowed us to develop from cave dwelling life to the human existence we enjoy today.</p>
<p>We need to wake up. We need to wake up to this cultural genocide. This is not natural selection. This is the intentional cultural cleansing of multiple protected characteristics and another characteristic that the Equality Act of 2010 describes as socio-economic inequality. This is the perpetuation of a class order that favours white, middle class, able-bodied, neuronormative, straight, middle-aged, atheist, mostly women and many men, assigned to their gender at birth, in traditional marriages and civil partnerships, many of the same white British national origin.</p>
<p>This is important because we are facing a cultural crisis of monumental proportions that threatens to undermine our progress as a society in the 21st century. That threatens to handicap generations and generations to come. This is a cultural crisis that promotes sameness, navel-gazing and privilege. This is a crisis that will contribute to the gulf of inequality widening in ways that only exist in the Global South, Global East and the United States of America. These are inequalities that are fertile ground for bigotry, hatred, prejudice and discrimination. This is fertile ground for a cultural emergency - and a cultural emergency has begun.</p>
<blockquote><p>READ MORE – <a href="https://www.commonspace.scot/articles/12539/who-missing-culture-scotland-festival-ideas-ask-tough-questions">'Who is missing from culture in Scotland?' Festival of Ideas to ask the tough questions</a></p>
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<p>As funding priorities have shifted on a national level, their impact has been made on our communities. It is groups with protected characteristics that have felt the impact first. The young, the non able-bodied, the poor, the people of colour, the queer and the ethnically marginalised. It started with the regulatory framework for the self-employed becoming more formalised in 2015 and accelerated due to the shifting international political landscape of 2016. Which has left us, at least in Edinburgh (forget anywhere outside of the central belt), with austerity that locks out potential and disgraces ambition. No amount of positive thinking, promoting capitalist ideals and entrepreneurial success stories will fix this access gap. When the choice is between a month’s worth of food or investment in start up capital for a business that may fail and that does not have the cultural capital required to make a real start in this society, which choice would you make?</p>
<p>The next cure for cancer, modern tech innovation, and future proofing invention may be trapped in the mind of a young woman from Wester Hailes that would never even consider a start in the creative industries or a young non-binary person from the Barras or Woodside. Any time we are selling a cultural landmark, a beacon of the Enlightenment that reads ‘Let there be light…’ to the highest bidder… it may be too late. We may be too far into the hole of our cultural overdraft and from here all we can do is start again.</p>
<p>Picture courtesy of <a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/spivaartworkers/8750275571/in/photolist-ekes5c-cnX9D9-puatUV-4v552P-4v55mD-5LeSR2-6W2mDk-awCYY6-5u5SRe-25zmPB4-e6q5sR-ZGK7zU-UF1enT-GUrQuc-WuZBZs-HL8H5-qMX81b-5u9X3t-uqsnr-bgjyiR-5u9Ywe-4v56VX-8Z7MEj-4v5akB-8bE5vU-6TTmku-VjtF7r-5pnKdf-5pitvv-4v5agx-5BDNXf-ekjeR9-68XCTa-9kzQ1a-Npgb1v-68XCxH-8efSa3-eiaP2e-5uakoQ-5uaj9o-4TCbd9-YZnkYm-NdVkw1-ekkeYA-78MM7G-ekjfrL-ekesxD-4v59xa-ekeA2a-5pitwr">George A. Spiva Center for the Arts</a></p>
<p><em>Briana Pegado is the Founder and Director of the Edinburgh Student Arts Festival (ESAF), an award winning social enterprise that provides a platform for emerging artists in Scotland. She is also a cofounder of Povo, a process-led consultancy and collective that engages people with the creative process through research and experimentation. She is a fellow of the Royal Society of Arts and explores how sustainable development principles can be more widely applied to the creative industries through her freelance work. She has completed projects for the National Theatre of Scotland and Scottish Drama Training Network among other national art bodies exploring the barriers young people face to the arts and creative industries. She sits on the board of Creative Edinburgh and is a trustee of YWCA Scotland - the Young Women's Movement. In 2017, she was named one of Scotland's 30 Under 30 Inspiring Women.</em></p>
<blockquote><p>ENJOY READING COMMONSPACE? <a href="https://www.commonspace.scot/civicrm/mailing/subscribe">Click here</a> to get our newsletter so you never miss a story</p>
</blockquote>
</div></div></div>Fri, 10 Aug 2018 09:46:15 +0000Ben Wray13133 at https://www.commonspace.scothttps://www.commonspace.scot/articles/13133/briana-pegado-we-are-facing-cultural-crisis-if-creative-industries-do-not-become-more#commentsRace Relationshttps://www.commonspace.scot/articles/13131/race-relations
<div class="field field-name-field-image field-type-image field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" rel="og:image rdfs:seeAlso" resource="https://www.commonspace.scot/sites/default/files/styles/large/public/field/image/race_relations.jpg?itok=u4ChbrSK"><img typeof="foaf:Image" class="img-responsive" src="https://www.commonspace.scot/sites/default/files/styles/large/public/field/image/race_relations.jpg?itok=u4ChbrSK" width="643" height="429" alt="" /></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" property="content:encoded"><p>In her Cartoon of the Week, Lorna Miller (@mistressofline) looks at Boris Johnson’s burka jibe. </p>
<p>To view last week’s Cartoon of the Week, <a href="https://www.commonspace.scot/articles/13110/scottish-fiver-uk-austerity">click here</a>. </p>
</div></div></div>Fri, 10 Aug 2018 08:33:48 +0000Ben Wray13131 at https://www.commonspace.scothttps://www.commonspace.scot/articles/13131/race-relations#comments'My journey from No to Yes': Full statement from Edinburgh councillor who quit the Tories and backs independencehttps://www.commonspace.scot/articles/13130/my-journey-no-yes-full-statement-edinburgh-councillor-who-quit-tories-and-backs
<div class="field field-name-field-image field-type-image field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" rel="og:image rdfs:seeAlso" resource="https://www.commonspace.scot/sites/default/files/styles/large/public/field/image/15111439460_a202248df5_z.jpg?itok=wpQ-j-j2"><img typeof="foaf:Image" class="img-responsive" src="https://www.commonspace.scot/sites/default/files/styles/large/public/field/image/15111439460_a202248df5_z.jpg?itok=wpQ-j-j2" width="643" height="429" alt="" /></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" property="content:encoded"><p>Ashley Graczyk, independent councillor for the Sighthill/Gorgie ward in Edinburgh who left the Scottish Conservatives a few months ago, has revealed on Twitter her journey from No to Yes, saying the UK Government’s treatment of disabled people and her growing belief in self-governance had led to her changing view. CommonSpace re-publishes her statement in full below</p>
<p><strong>OVER a period of a year as a Scottish Conservative Councillor there were three things that had radically transformed my political views from No to Yes. The first is the impact of Conservative policies on people and communities. As a new Councillor, I saw with my own eyes the impact the Conservative policies, especially DWP and welfare, had on the local people and communities. I have lost count of the amount of times I have met with various disabled people and those in difficulties who have been immensely impacted by the DWP at a local level. I, personally, have seen people reduced to tears because of Universal Credit, PIP, Access to Work and the Access to Elected Office Fund (UK).</strong></p>
<p>I also speak from personal experience that the Access to Work application and assessment process is far too bureaucratic, obstructive and is no longer fit for purpose. Quite frankly, it is a horrible process and many charities have the same concerns.</p>
<p>The final straw was when I received an email from a team member of the Government Equalities Office in response to my open letter to the Minister for Women and Equalities. I had shared my delight in the Access to Elected Office Fund (UK) being reinstated for a year and urged the Minister to make it permanent. I also shared briefly how grateful I was for the support I received from the Access to Elected Office Fund *Scotland) and the positive impact it had on my campaign.</p>
<p>The UK Government acknowledged there are certain barriers, but they also stated that the Access to Elected Office (UK) was being wound up and that the political parties are expected to have ultimate responsibility to meet extra costs for disabled candidates. I’m concerned the UK Government wants to shift the responsibility of costly unreasonable adjustments to political parties, like they do to employers with Access to Work, and like some employers, some political parties would not have a sustainable budget to meet the costly support needed. This would put a cap on disabled peoples ambitions to get into public and political life and certain types of work from anywhere in the UK.</p>
<blockquote><p>READ MORE – <a href="https://www.commonspace.scot/articles/13024/colette-walker-what-has-change-get-more-women-politics">Colette Walker: What has to change to get more women into politics</a></p>
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<p>The second reason is the UK Government itself. In June 2017, I witnessed a snap General election with an unlevel playing field and a clear disadvantage for disabled candidates, thanks to the UK Government’s decision to not release the Access to Elected Office Fund (UK).</p>
<p>I witnessed disabled people throughout the UK who would have loved but were unable to stand as MP candidates, including Scottish candidates, as they could not afford the support needed thanks to the Access to Elected Office Fund UK being reserved (had it been devolved it is likely the Scottish candidates would have had received funding from the Scottish Government). Some of the political parties did not have the sustainable budget to provide nor had the time to fundraise for a snap election. Those that did manage, had to pay extra on top of the campaign itself. This example made me wonder if the same could potentially happen to the Access to Elected Office Fund (Scotland) if the Scottish Conservatives ever got elected into the Scottish Government. All this demonstrates what life is like for disabled people under the current UK Government.</p>
<p>It also made me wonder, what kind of society do I want to live in – a society under a selfish government that looks for any excuse to not support disabled or vulnerable people and favours the rich? Or a society where together, we can work for the removal of barriers to people’s economic, social and civic inclusion, and to promote our rights, choices and voices, as full and equal citizens?</p>
<p>I decided to resign from the party because I refused to give up our right to participate in work, politics and in society on an equal level playing field under the current UK Government that wants to remove or alter policies that puts a cap on our ambitions.</p>
<blockquote><p>READ MORE – <a href="https://www.commonspace.scot/articles/2775/anni-donaldson-how-women-leaders-shaped-policy-women">Anni Donaldson: How women leaders shaped policy for women</a></p>
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<p>The third reason is my belief in self-governance.</p>
<p>Along with all the other City of Edinburgh Councillors, we have the privilege to govern the Capital City of Scotland, and in my first year as a Councillor I saw with my own eyes how we run our City via the Council. We also received some insight into the various roles MSPs and MPs have due to working cross-government on various issues. Over time, it became more glaringly obvious to me the absurdity of reserved matters being dealt with by Westminster and not by the Scottish Government (bear in mind I voted No), as Scotland is capable of governing on reserved matters too. I became more convinced that Scotland needs political independence to build a different and better Scotland.</p>
<p>I have been brought up with the UK as my Country, and all my life I had seen the whole of the UK as my homeland. I don’t want to see new borders as I’m about finding new and practical ways to break down barriers and unite people as central to one of my progressive values.</p>
<p>But I came to the realisation that to preserve and protect the values we have in Scotland we cannot have policies imposed on us from Westminster that jar with the kind of Scotland we are trying to build. So simply, we need independence. Scotland’s traditional liberal values of freedom, tolerance, equality, and individual rights need to be protected. It was a question of which values were more important to me to serve in my ward, after all I campaigned under the vision of ‘Communities that Work for Everyone’ and I believe the Conservatives and UK Government cannot deliver that aspiration.</p>
<blockquote><p>READ MORE – <a href="https://www.commonspace.scot/articles/12876/independence-women-national-conference-amplify-women-s-voices-politics-and-beyond">Independence for women: National conference to amplify women’s voices in politics and beyond</a></p>
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<p>What I personally struggled to come to terms with, was that for Scotland to get political independence we need to break up my homeland. We need to break up the old Union which does not work with devolution and work together as a new Union of Independent Nations as Equals cooperating with our UK neighbours on an equal footing while the Scottish people control their own destiny.</p>
<p>I believe it is time for Scotland to have political independence, to self-govern with the full freedom to build and shape Scotland’s future by our own hands the kind of country we want it to be and the kind of Government we want to have (one with a caring heart!).</p>
<p>Yes, I freely admit we need to find new and practical solutions such as, the kind of currency we will have, the kind of central bank, and so on, but we can work, discuss, debate and share ideas together to find these solutions and build on the vision of an independent Scotland into reality. Heck, if we can invent televisions, telephones, penicillin and insulin, to name a few – surely, we can create ways to self-govern our Country? Didn’t these inventions all start with a vision from those who could imagine a different future?</p>
<p>The increasingly safe and sensible choice seems to be for Scotland to stay at the heart of Europe, independent and in control of our own destiny. It is time to embrace YES with full confidence in our future.</p>
<p>Picture courtesy of <a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/fw42/15111439460/in/photolist-p2m5tE-fGDt94-nXbFaG-hmfSj7-6X2S7i-fGDv2K-o4BGUz-nGJEN7-oYPt3U-o4AwCp-8qfmn8-fufhXM-obNidP-PFgrn-crvWgs-haSpNn-bvuGMt-4QWgqh-nGJGUm-fP6J6X-ekz2B7-g4pSiL-nXbEPG-h9ugmU-pi8Z5d-fvevJj-nYW7GB-o9gQCf-p1F3Dp-fufhhn-oqXTia-bJhTin-fuuATy-fGW8Y1-9C4mnJ-p1Frcj-oHs1ka-6cNK7s-hQgHPk-hQhKQa-oEV673-fuZm2D-6BSFaN-bvuGJM-dY99Nu-p8efx1-fufiMk-fGDutD-6X6SwA-bvuGAB">fw42</a></p>
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</div></div></div>Thu, 09 Aug 2018 16:10:46 +0000Ben Wray13130 at https://www.commonspace.scothttps://www.commonspace.scot/articles/13130/my-journey-no-yes-full-statement-edinburgh-councillor-who-quit-tories-and-backs#commentsLGBT campaign and teachers' union call on leading Scottish Tories to distance themselves from anti-Trans article calling teachers 'abusive nihilists'https://www.commonspace.scot/articles/13128/lgbt-campaign-and-teachers-union-call-leading-scottish-tories-distance-themselves
<div class="field field-name-field-image field-type-image field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" rel="og:image rdfs:seeAlso" resource="https://www.commonspace.scot/sites/default/files/styles/large/public/field/image/trans_rights_now_0.jpg?itok=_FTQBt3i"><img typeof="foaf:Image" class="img-responsive" src="https://www.commonspace.scot/sites/default/files/styles/large/public/field/image/trans_rights_now_0.jpg?itok=_FTQBt3i" width="643" height="429" alt="" /></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" property="content:encoded"><p>Murdo Fraser MSP, finance spokesperson, and Liz Smith MSP, education spokesperson, among contributors to website that published call to "brutalise" teachers and campaigners</p>
<p><strong>SCOTLAND’S EIS teacher's union and a leading LGBT+ education campaign have called on leading Scottish Conservative MSPs to distance themselves from a website that published an article calling for action against "perverts" and "abusive nihilists" who teach children about gender diversity in schools.</strong></p>
<p>ThinkScotland, which previously described itself as a think-tank and relaunched in 2012 as ‘an independent not-for-profit debating forum’, boasts Scottish Tory Finance spokesperson Murdo Fraser as regular writer and also lists Tory education spokesperson Liz Smith as a contributor.</p>
<p>The article, published on Tuesday [7 August] by Jonathan Stanley, regular commentator on the website, centres on a tirade against primary school teachers who it refers to as "abusive nihilists" who have "a sexual interest in children". The piece comes in response to new guidelines by the Scottish Government for teachers on gender diversity. </p>
<p>"I see you have a sexual interest in children, have you considered a career in primary education?" Stanley, a researcher with the Bow Group – a rightwing think tank boasting senior Conservative Party backers – writes in the piece.</p>
<p>He goes on: "I believe the people who infatuate the sexualisation of children are perverts. Those who seek in the first instance, when they are learning boundaries and norms of their society, to actively blur and confuse them whether for Marxism or liberal causes, are abusive nihilists."</p>
<p>The article later continues: "I want these nihilistic perverts fired...They are wicked and those politicians who idily(sic) shrug their shoulders while this happens are no better..."</p>
<p>The article concludes with a call to "brutalise" those who institute the new guidelines.</p>
<p>"The political right needs to have at least electoral offering that is prepared, like Trump, to brutalise such radicals and make professional life uncomfortable for them..."</p>
<blockquote><p>READ MORE: <a href="https://www.commonspace.scot/articles/12954/holyrood-marks-third-anniversary-tie-campaign-rainbow-ties-chamber-and-commitment"><strong>Holyrood marks third anniversary of the TIE campaign with rainbow ties in the chamber and a commitment to inclusive education</strong></a></p>
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<p>Speaking to CommonSpace, EIS General Secretary Larry Flanagan said: "The ThinkScotland article is both misinformed and gratuitously offensive in a manner which is disturbing but regrettably no longer uncommon.<br /> <br />"The EIS believes that it is dangerous to deploy such rhetoric. Politicians should be wary of appearing to endorse such comments, by association.</p>
<p>"Teachers have an absolute right not to be subject to abusive, threatening or violent behaviour as part of their working lives.</p>
<p>"The EIS believes that equality matters should be addressed at all stages of the curriculum, in age appropriate ways. Children need to be supported in understanding issues of diversity, difference and stereotyping, including in relation to gender."</p>
<p>Liam Stevenson, co-founder of the Time for Inclusive Education campaign, which is backed by numerous Scottish Conservative politicians, including Scottish Secretary David Mundell, told CommonSpace: "This article is not only inflammatory but ridiculously inaccurate, and the views expressed here are bigoted and ignorant. The author repeats dangerous insinuations used for decades to smear, intimidate and humiliate LGBT+ people. The calls for advocates to be "brutalised" could incite hatred and should be condemned.</p>
<p>"It's unfortunate that Think Scotland seems to carry some influence due to their association with leading Scottish Conservatives - the website can list MSPs Murdo Fraser and Liz Smith as contributors, and this gives warped ideas like these undue weight.</p>
<p>"They should consider their association with Think Scotland or any other outlet that gives credence to these views."</p>
<p>Asked if he really thought teachers engaging in the scheme would be committing child abuse, he said: "...those who seek to intervene in the sexual development of children they do not raise are abusive whether their(sic) or not that is their intention."</p>
<p>Pressed on what he meant by "brutalise" by CommonSpace, Stanley said: "Radicals who impose their policies based on abstract ideology on a society without expressed consent and merit should be made to feel uncomfortable. Their trade is purely based on the tit of the taxpayer.</p>
<p>"Cutting funding to such endeavours will be brutal enough and long overdue."</p>
<blockquote><p>READ MORE: <a href="https://www.commonspace.scot/articles/13123/analysis-social-media-censorship-and-why-far-right-cant-defend-free-speech"><strong>Social media, censorship, and why the far right can't defend free speech</strong></a></p>
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<p>The new guidelines, reported in <a href="https://www.scotsman.com/news/primary-one-children-will-be-told-your-gender-is-what-you-decide-1-4779133">the Scotsman</a> and jointly created by the Scottish Government, Education Scotland and NHS boards, will be provided in an online package titled Relationships, Sexual Health and Parenthood.</p>
<p>To be introduced in 2019, part of the draft version reads: "Your sex is what you are told by a doctor when you are born. Most people are told they are a male child (a boy) or a female child (a girl)."</p>
<p>"People might think they know your gender because of the clothes you wear or the things you like to do. You are a unique person, you know who you are."</p>
<p>"Your gender is what you decide."</p>
<p>The guidelines come amid a national debate about LGBT+ education, pioneered by the Tie Campaign, which calls for teaching to address the existence of the full spectrum of sexual and gender identities at a school level, in response to endemic levels of bullying, mental distress, self harm and isolation experienced by LGBT young people.</p>
<p>Asked if leading Scottish Conservatives should be associated with a website that publishes such views, a Scottish Conservative spokesperson said: "This is so utterly ludicrous, we won’t be responding."</p>
<p>The editor of the Think Scotland website, former Scotsman columnist Brian Monteith did not respond to questions from CommonSpace about the decision to publish the article.</p>
<p>Picture courtesy of Scottish Trans Alliance</p>
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</div></div></div>Thu, 09 Aug 2018 15:06:52 +0000Ben Wray13128 at https://www.commonspace.scothttps://www.commonspace.scot/articles/13128/lgbt-campaign-and-teachers-union-call-leading-scottish-tories-distance-themselves#comments